Philippine Navy dismantles Chinese marker in Spratly reef

By Windsor Genova

All Headline News, June 15, 2011

The Philippine Navy said Tuesday it has dismantled a suspected Chinese marker found by local fishermen at a reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

The marker taken down at the Boxall Reef was a flat bar measuring 10 feet long and 4 inches wide, according to Naval Forces West commander Commodore Edgardo Tamayo.

The reef is 105 nautical miles from Palawan Island and falls within the Philippines’ 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone. It is 20 nautical miles from Ayungin Shoal, which is occupied by the Philippine Navy.

Tamayo said the marker was the same steel post found and dismantled earlier by the navy at Amy Douglas Bank.

On May 24, steel posts, a buoy and other building materials were laid out by Chinese vessels in the said reef. Manila subsequently filed a diplomatic protest with China, claiming the foreign activities violated the 2002 Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

The declaration, to which China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are parties, urges claimants to the islands to refrain from constructing military facilities and conducting war games in the disputed archipelago to avoid tension. The declaration, however, is non-binding.

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