Janvic Mateo
In a novel attempt to ease the tension in the disputed West Philippine Sea, a military official announced on Tuesday that Philippine and Vietnamese troops are planning to hold football and basketball matches in the Spratly islands.
According to Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Alexander Pama, the navies of the two countries have decided to hold the “fun games” as part of the agreement signed last year which calls for the undertaking of confidence-building steps and sharing more information to allow better response to maritime accidents.
“We will be sending some of our boys to their occupied islands and they will also be sending their boys to our occupied islands,” Pama was quoted in an ABS-CBN News article.
The Philippine military currently occupies 7 islands and 1 reef in the disputed region while Vietnamese troops are deployed in 25 islands, cays and reefs.
The Philippines, as well as Malaysia and Brunei, claim parts of the Spratlys archipelago which is claimed as a whole by Vietnam, China and Taiwan.
The Spratlys is one of the two major island groups in the region, the other being the Paracel Islands which is claimed by Vietnam, China and Taiwan. A third island group, called the Pratas Islands, is part of the territorial dispute between Taiwan and China, which claims sovereignty over the entire territory.
The disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea are believed to be sitting on top of rich mineral and oil deposits.
According to Pama, the “fun games” will only involve sports matches and not firearms training activities.
He added that there are currently no discussions to invite other claimants to take part in the games.
Kalayaan Municipality Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon Jr., the head of the small Filipino settlement in one of the occupied islands in the Spratlys, welcomed the plan of holding the “fun games.”
“This will lessen the tension and apprehension about a shooting war,” Bito-onon was quoted in an Inquirer report. “It’s good if they’ll play games, eat on the same table … than not have a line of communication.”
The announcement of the games came a few days after the regional summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Cambodia. During the summit, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and Vietnamese Prime Minister Tan Dung called for a multilateral approach to deal with the territorial dispute and pushed for the immediate drafting of a code of conduct.
Aquino also renewed his government's offer to hold a Spratlys summit in Manila.
Last month, the Philippine government said that it will push through with its tourism development plans in one of its occupied islands in the Spratlys. The Philippine Department of Energy also announced the resumption of oil and gas explorations in some of the disputed areas.
The Philippine government's move irked China, which said that such activities are illegal and that it infringes their “indisputable sovereignty” over the region.
Over the past year, the Philippines and Vietnam have filed a number of protests accusing Chinese vessels of sabotaging oil explorations and intimidating local fishermen in their respective territorial waters. Beijing has denied the allegations.
The United States, an ally of both the Philippines and Vietnam, recently increased its military presence in the Pacific amid reports that China will use its military dominance to bully other countries that have claims in the West Philippine Sea territories.
Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Ma Keqing has since denied that they intend to use their military force in the territorial disputes in the region.
Earlier today, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said that Philippine warship BRP Gregorio del Pilar is currently in a standoff with two Chinese maritime surveillance ships in the West Philippine Sea.
GMA News reported that the Filipino troops tried to arrest the Chinese fishermen who allegedly collected corals, clams and sharks in the Philippine waters but were prevented by the Chinese surveillance ships identified as Zhonggou Haijian 75 and Zhonggou Haijian 84.
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