Manila: The Philippines has lodged a formal protest against China’s imposition of a unilateral four-month-long fishing ban in the South China Sea, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced on Monday.
The DFA highlighted that the annual fishing ban exacerbates tensions in the South China Sea, urging Beijing to “cease and desist” from what it described as “illegal actions” that infringe upon the Philippines’ sovereignty and sovereign rights.
China enforces an annual fishing ban in parts of the South China Sea, a move that the Philippines consistently opposes. This year’s ban is set to continue until September. The DFA’s diplomatic note emphasized that the moratorium includes waters within the Philippines’ maritime zones.
“The Philippines stressed that the unilateral imposition of the fishing moratorium raises tensions in the West Philippine Sea and the South China Sea,” the DFA stated.
Requests for comment from the Chinese embassy in Manila have not been immediately answered.
Last week, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro criticized China’s Coast Guard regulations in the South China Sea, labeling them as a “provocation”.
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China asserts sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea, a vital waterway facilitating over $3 trillion in annual trade. This extensive claim conflicts with the maritime boundaries of the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.
In 2016, an international arbitral tribunal ruled that China’s expansive claims had no legal foundation, a decision that Beijing has consistently rejected.
