NAVY chief Vice Adm. Giovanni Carlo Bacordo is accusing China of trying to provoke Philippine Navy ships into firing first shots in the West Philippine Sea, in the South China Sea, and lose international support in the process.
“The way I analyze it, in our disputes in that area, the first one to fire the shot becomes the loser,” Bacordo told a virtual forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents of the Philippines on Monday afternoon.
Bacordo said the Navy will continue to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of patrols and in the rotation and replenishment of Filipino troops occupying nine features, including Pag-asa Island, in the disputed region.
“So they will do everything, they will do everything for us to take aggressive action but we have to be patient with that. Again, the first one to fire the shot loses public support and I’m sure they want us to take the first shot. But we will not,” he said.
Bacordo said ASEAN and Western Pacific Navy chiefs have always emphasized during dialogues that “we should refrain from activities that will complicate or escalate disputes that will affect also the peace and stability in the region.”
In a phone interview yesterday, Bacordo cited several occasions during which the Chinese tried to provoke the Philippine Navy into firing the first shot, including an incident in February this year involving BRP Conrado Yap.
Officials earlier said Philippine Navy ship was conducting patrol near the Philippine-occupied Rizal Reef when a Chinese Navy corvette “challenged” and later aimed its fire control system at the BRP Conrado Yap.
“That is an an example. That is actually a provoking action from one Navy ship to another Navy ship,” said Bacordo.
Bacordo said personnel aboard BRP Conrado Yap “took precautionary measures to defend themselves” but did not fire. He said the personnel recorded the incident, leading to the filing of diplomatic protest against China.
Bacordo also cited the “cabbage strategy,” a multi-layer security strategy aimed at denying a rival country an access to its claimed territories, which he said China applied in the West Philippine Sea in 2013.
“Remember during the cabbage strategy implementation of the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) Navy. Their actions, like getting too close, the maneuvering, dangerously close to the other Navy vessel, or to other Filipino vessels? These are provoking actions…Those are provoking actions which may invite aggressive action,” said Bacordo.
As to what point the Navy can exercise restraint and not fire a shot, Bacordo said: “That’s a judgement call of the commanding officer (of a Navy ship). In the final analysis, the decision has to be with the commanding officer.”
Bacordo also said he wants a diplomatic protest lodged against China over the presence of two Chinese ships surveying Recto Bank, also known as Reed Bank, about 80 miles off Palawan.
In the forum, Bacordo said the surveillance ships were monitored about a week ago by littoral monitoring stations but only one of those are still in the area as of last Sunday.
“We have reported this and we have checked if they have any clearance to conduct survey in that area and we found out there is none,” said Bacordo.
Bacordo concluded the ships were conducting surveys “because they have been there for about a week already and the speed is something less than three knots and you’re only doing that if you’re conducting actual surveys.”
He said the Navy will submit a report to the defense department and request the filing of a diplomatic protest.
Bacordo could not immediately say if the Chinese ship was still at the Recto Bank as of yesterday.
