Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 19) — The Philippines is ready to enforce its laws as China lifted its fishing ban, which Beijing has imposed annually since 1999, over some parts of the contested West Philippine Sea last Aug. 15, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
\”We urge China to take active measures AT PORT to prevent its fishing fleets from encroaching into our territorial sea and EEZ [exclusive economic zone]. The Philippines is ready to take law enforcement measures on illegal fishing activities in its waters,\” DFA spokesperson Teresita Daza said Friday.
The DFA added that the Philippines does not recognize China’s fishing ban.
Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. – who was recently appointed as special envoy to China – welcomed the DFA’s move.
“Well, the Philippine is in every respect correct to reject a Chinese fishing ban; it can only respect its own in its waters—even as it demands that China limit its ban to its waters under international law and never by virtue of aspirational goals however noteworthy,” Locsin said Saturday.
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Well, the Philippine is in every respect correct to reject a Chinese fishing ban; it can only respect its own in its waters—even as it demands that China limit its ban to its waters under international law and never by virtue of aspirational goals however noteworthy. The road to… https://t.co/ECnNSDFFei
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) August 19, 2023
