Philippines' Marcos Jnr hails 'progress' on South China Sea fishing ban talks with Beijing
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr says his government and Beijing have made "progress" on navigating a unilateral fishing ban imposed by the Asian giant in the contested South China Sea that has threatened the livelihoods of local fisherfolk.
The annual restrictions have been in place in the resource-rich waterway, which encompasses the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, for more than two decades - despite a 2016 UN-backed tribunal ruling that found the Southeast Asian nation has a sovereign right to fish there. China has refused to recognise the decision.
Marcos Jnr also sought to soft-pedal on the issue of a Chinese coastguard vessel reportedly shadowing a Philippine boat last week while it was on its way to deliver supplies to fishermen on Thitu Island, one of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea currently under Manila's jurisdiction.
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He framed it as a sign of easing hostilities on the high seas.
"The latest report is it was just followed. Not like before when it was being blocked. So there's little progress there," Marcos Jnr said, adding he was coordinating with China to ensure its fishing embargo is not enacted without notice.
"When they say there will be a fishing ban in two months' time, we can make a plan," the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper quoted him as saying.
"What will our fishermen do? So let's give them another livelihood or another source of income."
China argues the moratorium, from May to August, nurtures sustainable fishing, but the Philippines says it violates the country's sovereignty.
In May, Marcos Jnr asked the Philippine coastguard and the Department of Foreign Affairs "to put together a map of these fishing grounds" that will be presented to Beijing in a bid to resolve the fishing rights dispute.
On Tuesday, however, he acknowledged that the results "do not come very quickly" although the matter is making headway due to improved communications with Beijing.
Chinese coastguard ships frequently face-off with Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, blocking them from approaching Manila-claimed islands and ordering them to leave Beijing's "undisputable territories".
Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entirety of the South China Sea, where the Philippines and several other nations have competing claims.
China's maritime aggression has also prompted the Philippines to embrace its long-time security ally, the United States, even tighter with both sides carrying out joint military drills and signing expanded defence agreements in recent months.
Senator Risa Hontiveros, who has repeatedly criticised the Chinese coastguard's actions in the South China Sea, urged Marcos Jnr to raise the topic with the United Nations General Assembly, which should have the "ability to tell China to behave".
Meanwhile, lawmaker Edward Hagedorn from Palawan province, which faces the South China Sea, said a bill he was pushing forward to declare parts of the Philippines' exclusive economic zone as a marine protected area had been met with expressions of displeasure from Chinese ambassador to Manila, Huang Xilian.
Huang said the proposal, which is also backed by Ferdinand Alexander - Marcos Jnr's son and a legislator himself - is posing a "big problem" for Beijing. Hagedorn added he was open to amending the bill, but would not scrap it after the envoy called on him to review his plan.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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