China says Philippines doing ‘propaganda trap’ on WPS issue

China hit back at Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gibo Teodoro after accusing Beijing of doing propaganda trap regarding the West Philippine Sea.

For China, it is the Philippines that is supposedly doing propaganda whenever the latter complains about Beijing’s bullying of smaller nations.

“The Philippines keeps accusing China of ‘intimidating smaller countries’ without mentioning at all the Philippine occupation of and encroachment on China’s territory in Nansha Qundao. That is a real propaganda ‘trap,’” Wang Wenbin, China’s Foreign Ministry, said on Wednesday, April 4.

The Philippines has long been fighting for its territorial sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea based on international law and arbitral ruling. China is opposing this as it unilaterally claims the whole South China Sea, which includes the West Philippine Sea.

“On the issue of Ren’ai Jiao, it’s not the size, but the behavior of a country that determines who is right and who is wrong,” Wang added.

In an open letter on Tuesday, Teodoro called on Filipinos not to fall into the “trap set by Chinese propaganda of refocusing the debate on a so-called promise while deflecting attention away from China’s government.”

“We Filipinos must not lose sight of the fact that the main threat to our rights in the WPS is the Chinese government[‘s] illegal activities,” he said.

Wang repeated the Philippines’ supposed failure to comply with its promise to tow away the grounded Philippine military ship in the Ayungin Shoal, which has recently been causing tension between the two sides.

“But 25 years on, not only hasn’t the Philippines fulfilled its promise to tow away the warship, it has even attempted to send construction materials for large-scale repair and reinforcement of the warship in order to build permanent structures on Ren’ai Jiao,” Wang said.

Amid Chinese aggression in the waters, Wang claimed it is the Philippines that is “responsible” for the current tensions in the waters.

He said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China must settle the dispute among themselves and not with “non-regional actors.”

“For some time, the Philippines has been pulling non-regional actors into the South China Sea affairs to back Philippine provocations and violation of China’s sovereignty,” he said.

Wang tagged it as “selfish gains” being pursued by the Philippines, which Manila has defended as partnering with like-minded nations to ensure freedom of navigation and uphold international law in the waters.

“This is the main reason why the situation in the the South China Sea has escalated and become more complicated,” he added.

Wang then called on the Philippines to “respect the facts, observe the relevant understandings between the two sides and DOC (Declaration of Code of Conduct) provisions, follow the consensus reached between China and ASEAN countries, and return to the right track of properly managing and resolving disputes through dialogue and consultation as soon as possible.” — Joseph Pedrajas