Chinese experts reject Phl triple action plan

Chinese experts yesterday rejected the Philippines proposed triple action plan (TAP)  that aims to reduce the escalating tensions  on issues surrounding the disputes on the South China Sea .

The president and senior research fellow of the NISCSS Wu Shicun, said the TAP cannot be applied since the Philippines went on to file the arbitration case, which is supposed to be the final approach in settling the dispute over the overlapping boundaries in South China Sea. He said that the  Philippines now skipped to the final stage to solve the South China Sea conflicts by arbitration.

China believes that the TAP was shaped by the Philippines after China built artificial islands in the West Philippine Sea. Hence the Chinese government would not stand by any resolution of the tribunal on the arbitration case.

Whether or not the tribunal’s judgment favors China, Wu does not think that the dispute between the two countries will be fixed.

Last month, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced details of the TAP in a bid to put up determined actions to decrease tensions and work to resolve the issues in the South China Sea.

As an immediate approach, the TAP calls for a suspension or freeze on specific activities that escalate tension in the South China Sea. This approach brings the need for a more real definition of paragraph five of the ASEAN-China Declaration of Conduct on the South China Sea (DOC).For the intermediate approach, the TAP underscores the need and call for the full and effective implementation of the DOC and the expeditious conclusion of the Code of Conduct. As a final approach, the TAP highlights the need for settlement mechanism to bring the disputes to a final and stable resolution secured on international law.

But Chinese scholars believe that TAP had similarities with the pitch of the United States government on the South China Sea disputes.

Wu also told visiting Filipino journalists that an option for the Philippines is to pull out the arbitration case “as a good gesture” to improve the strained relations between Manila and Beijing.

Further, the Philippines rejected China’s “unacceptable” decision. The DFA said the Philippines would pursue the international arbitration effort in order to seek a legal to the territorial dispute with China.