A file photograph from 2008 shows the beach on Philippine-occupied Pag-Asa island, the largest of the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Photographer: Joel Guinto/Bloomberg
The military on Tuesday kept mum on China's plan to build a garrison on a group of disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr., however, said they would continue to conduct surveillance reports in the area.
"That (report about the plan to build garrison) has to be validated. [As for the] response, we will ask the Department of Foreign Affairs," Burgos said.
"We will do our job. We will just implement and execute any directive handed down by higher authorities," he added.
Burgos said they would continue to coordinate with state agencies in monitoring the situation in the area.
"We will not waiver in our commitment to uphold the integrity and sovereignty of our national territory," he said.
Burgos said they are continuously upgrading their capabilities to enable them to defend the country's territory.
"We need to protect our natural resources. We will lose a lot of resources if we fail to guard them," he said.
Earlier, China's defense ministry bared plans to establish a military garrison on a group of disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea.
The troops will operate from Sansha in the Paracel Islands, which is being claimed by both China and Vietnam.
China is also reportedly eyeing the construction of an airstrip adjacent to the Pag-asa Island, a Philippine-held territory in the Spratlys Island.
China is said to be eyeing the back of a four-story building in Subi Reef as location for the new airstrip.
The Philippines is claiming several islets, shoals, reefs and sandbars in the Spratly Group of Islands, which is being claimed in whole by China.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also claim part of the islands, which are said to be rich in oil and natural resources.
The garrison for the Illegally created new Sancha City Of china in the water without land count 1,100 Chinese residents from more than 700 Kilometers of Hainan Island elected a legislature to oversee the area as reported by China News paper. Sansha is on the Paracel Islands, which are also claimed by Vietnam that would also affect the Philippines administered Macclesfield Bank.
The move adds to recent efforts by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Brunei to affirm command over disputed islands in the waters. While it may rile other claimants in the South China Sea, China sets up military garrisons in all its administrative districts, according to Arthur Ding, a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations in Taiwan.
"In order to show its seriousness, just like any other administrative area, China set up a military unit there," Ding said in a phone interview. "It has nothing to do with combat preparation."
About 150 Vietnamese protesters marched through Hanoi to decry China's claims over the Spratly and Paracel islands while Philippines lodged its new Diplomatic Protest against China. The demonstrators in Vietnam, including parents with toddlers and seniors, defied police requests to disperse and circumvented barricades aimed at preventing access to a square where the Chinese embassy is located.
Prefectural City
China welcomed a statement by the Association of Southeast Asians (ASEAN) calling for self-restraint in resolving disputes in the waters. The 10-member bloc had failed to issue a communique after a meeting of foreign ministers this month for the first time in its 45-year history because members differed over wording that may have criticized China's actions.
Asean's eventual statement was "in line" with China's policies, the official Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary published July 21.
In June, China's State Council approved the establishment of the prefecture-level city to administer the Paracel and Spratly Islands. Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia have "de facto military occupation and administration" over most of the disputed islands in the South China Sea, parts of which are also claimed by Taiwan and Brunei, according to the International Crisis Group.
Sansha will be based on Yongxing, the largest island in the Paracels with an area of 2.1 square kilometers (0.8 square miles). The chain is several hundred kilometers southeast of Hainan. China ousted Vietnam from the 30 islets and reefs that comprise the Paracels in a 1974 battle in which 71 soldiers were killed.
Earlier this month, China rebuffed U.S. calls to quickly complete a code of conduct for the seas as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned more clashes are likely without a region- wide deal. Asean failed to reach consensus on handling disputes in the South China Sea.
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