The Philippines has rebuked China for its latest statement accusing the Philippines of instigating tensions in the disputed waters of South China Sea and instead maintained a “firm stand” against China’s “misguided claims and irresponsible actions.”
 

Personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) increased its presence in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) to assert the country's territory in celebration of the National Flag Day on May 28, 2021. (PCG photo)

In a statement on Sunday nigt, March 17, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) responded to the statement of the spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of China published last March 14 and denied Beijing’s “supposed historic rights and sweeping claims.”
 

“The Philippines maintains a firm stand against misguided claims and irresponsible actions that violate Philippine sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction in its own maritime domain,” the statement read.
 

“The Philippines has never used the South China Sea issue to heighten tensions, mislead the international community, or undermine peace and stability in the region,” it added.
 

Stressing that China’s “supposed historic rights and sweeping claims” in the region are “baseless and misleading,” the statement said that “the Philippines urges China to reconsider its unfounded positions and claims.”
 

China’s remarks came after a question about President Marcos’ statement during his Germany visit where he vowed to defend the Philippines’ territorial areas, including maritime and land-based territories, and admitted that it is difficult to see a way forward with Beijing’s insistence of the 10-dash line.
 

While China’s foreign ministry spokesman maintained that the dotted line has been published since 1948 and has never been challenged, DFA’s statement also underscored that the Philippines’ position in the region has historical basis as well.
 

“The Philippines has long had sovereignty and exercised administrative control over Bajo de Masinloc, as well as various features west of Palawan which now form the Kalayaan Island Group,” the statement said.
 

“These features appeared and were clearly identified in the administrative maps of the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period, including the 1734 Murillo Velarde Map of the Philippines,” it added.
 

DFA also reiterated that China’s claims “to historic rights, or other sovereign rights or jurisdiction beyond the limits of the maritime entitlements provided by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) are without legal effect” based on the Philippines’ 2016 arbitral tribunal win.
 

Manila and Beijing have been at loggerheads over the resource-rich waters, with China claiming the entire South China Sea, including waters and features of the West Philippine Sea, which covers the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
 

In 2016, the Philippines was awarded the arbitral ruling that denied the nine-dash line, the basis of China’s historical claims over the islands and waters in the entire South China Sea, including EEZs of neighboring Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
 

In rejecting the ruling, China has maintained an aggressive stance in the region, even firing water cannons at Philippine vessels taking humanitarian supplies to a military outpost at the Ayungin Shoal.