Chinese Diplomats Involved in ‘Wire-Tapping’ Should Be Expelled Immediately: Filipino Officials

The deliberately grounded Philippine ship BRP Sierra Madre is shown serving as a Philippine outpost on the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea on March 9, 2023. (Jam Sta Rosa/AFP via Getty Images)

Filipino officials have accused diplomats at the Chinese Embassy of spreading disinformation and secretly recording conversations between officials about the South China Sea, saying that those responsible must be expelled from the Philippines immediately.

Philippines National Security Adviser Secretary Eduardo M. Año said in a Friday statement that he was joining Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, Commodore Jay Tarriela, in calling for “appropriate actions against individuals in the Chinese Embassy” who they accuse of leaking “spurious transcripts or recordings of purported conversations” between Filipino officials—specifically between a Chinese diplomat and allegedly the head of the Armed Forces of the Philippines–Western Command (AFP-WESCOM).

Such actions are in violation of Philippine laws and amount to “serious breaches of diplomatic protocols and conventions,” he said of the unverifiable recordings of the conversations, pointing to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

The Chinese officials released to local media what the Filipino adviser said were “spurious transcripts or recordings of purported conversations between officials of the host country.”

According to the Chinese-released recordings, the full context of which are not fully clear, the officials discussed some kind of “gentleman’s agreement” regarding the Philippines’ routine resupply missions to Ayungin Shoal—also known as the Second Thomas Shoal and Rén'ài Jiāo by China.

The Second Thomas Shoal has become a highly contested point in China’s aggressive push to claim ownership of areas within its nine-dash line in the South China Sea. Chinese Coast Guard vessels have for many months been carrying out water cannon attacks on PCG vessels attempting to reach the shoal to resupply an outpost. China’s actions have left Filipino officers injured.

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A member of the Philippine coast guard vessel BRP Malabrigo manning his post while being shadowed by a Chinese coast guard ship at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea, on April 23, 2023. (Ted Ajibe/AFP via Getty Images)

Filipino Officials Respond

On May 5, the Philippines’ Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro refuted the claims made in the Chinese-released recordings as misinformation.

“I would like to clearly state that any insinuation that the Department of National Defense is a party to any ‘new model’ is a devious machination of China through their Embassy in Manila, and it is curious that it comes right after their actions were condemned in the recent SQUAD meeting … This charade must stop,” he said in a statement.

“I am issuing this statement to generate awareness on this clear attempt by China to advance another falsehood in order to divide our people and distract us from their unlawful presence and actions in our EEZ [exclusive economic zone].

“We advise our citizens, the media, and the international community to beware of China’s methods of manipulations, interference, and malign influence in furthering its own interests,” the defense minister said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Año said in his statement that no one in the Philippines government, except for the president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has the power to enter into such an agreement with a foreign power.

“We emphasize that the unmistakable objective of the PRC embassy in its indiscriminate releasing of these falsehoods and smears have been, and continues to be, to sow discord, division, and disunity between and among the Filipino people,” he said.

He called for those at the Chinese Embassy involved in the “malign influence and interference operations” to be “removed from the country immediately,” calling on the foreign ministry to act.

The Philippines’ foreign ministry also responded to the content of the Chinese-released recordings, saying it “reiterates its firm position that the Philippines has not entered into any agreement abandoning its sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, including on the Ayungin Shoal.”

It said that if Beijing was serious about properly managing their differences at sea, the Philippines’ invitation to convene a Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea (BCM-SCS) as soon as possible still stands.

Mr. Tarriela urged his fellow Filipinos to “not be swayed by the lies” from the Chinese side claiming to have potential agreements.

“It is critical for our country to stand united and not be divided in addressing this issue. We must work together to halt China’s ambitious goal of taking control of the entire West Philippine Sea.”

South China Sea Tensions Persist

The battle for public support comes as tensions continue to flare between governments in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) aggressive assertion of contested territorial claims in the South China Sea.

The CCP’s claims have been met with pushback by China’s neighbors in the region who have overlapping claims in waters within their EEZ as recognized by standing international law to which China is a signatory.

Mr. Marcos Jr. has insisted on his country’s sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea region of the South China Sea, and has criticized the continuous presence of Chinese vessels in these waters.

China claims sovereignty over much of the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Japan, and Taiwan.

An international tribunal in 2016 said China’s expansive claim had no legal basis, a decision that Beijing rejected and continues attempts to claim through its expanding maritime activities.

Chinese Reclamation Efforts Observed on Shoals

U.S. soldiers are seen during a joint mock beachfront assault on the shore of Ulugan Bay on Palawan island on April 25, 2012. U.S. and Filipino soldiers stormed the South China Sea island in war games that took place not far from a real-life maritime standoff between Manila and Beijing. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images)

Mr. Tarriela on Saturday also pointed to the presence of the Chinese Maritime Militia near Escoda Shoal, also known as Sabina Shoal, which is within the Philippines’ EEZ—just 75 nautical miles from the coast of Palawan.

The PCG has, over the past month, been deployed to Escoda Shoal to monitor the CCP’s activities in the area.

On Friday, the PCG reported that crushed corals have been imported and dumped near Escoda Shoal, which Filipino marine biologists described as like island-building activity in the West Philippine Sea.

A PCG spokesperson shared a video of the biologist inspecting the shoal, showing changes at the shoal where “dumped crushed coral” means that part of it is now above sea level.

Differences in color between the local sand and dumped coral was evident in the video.

Analysts previously told local Filipino media that dumping coral debris was a common procedure by China before its previous illegal reclamation activities in the South China Sea.

Reuters contributed to this report.