Deng Zhonghua

Editor's Note:

The standoff between China and the Philippines over Huangyan Island has been going on for over a month. What prompted the dispute? Is China "bullying" the Philippines, as some have claimed? Phoenix TV (PTV) talked to Deng Zhonghua (Deng), Director-General of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the background of this standoff and China's official stance.

PTV: The Philippines claims that Huangyan Island is its territory. How do you see such a claim?

Deng: Huangyan Island is the territory of China, and this is an indisputable fact. Historical data proves it. It has been recorded that Chinese conducted activities in the area thousands of years ago.

The Chinese government has included Huangyan Island when naming the islands in the South China Sea on many occasions. For example, the government announced the naming of the South China Sea islands in 1935 and the naming of Huangyan Island in 1947 and 1983.

Huangyan Island has been a traditional fishing ground of Chinese fishermen for generations.

According to a recent report, fishermen in Tanmen, Hainan Province, have fished there for generations and always called the Huangyan Island area their ancestral waters.

Moreover, staff from other sectors also often go there, conducting scientific research or installing wireless devices.

On the contrary, the Philippines for a very long period of time has publicly stated that Huangyan Island is not its territory. In 1990, the then Philippine ambassador to Germany said clearly in a letter to a German ham radio enthusiast that Huangyan Island is not the territory of the Philippines.

In 1994, an official document of the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources also clearly stated that Huangyan Island is not Philippine territory.

It was after 1997 that the Philippines began to claim that Huangyan Island was its territory. But even afterward, all the official maps published by the Philippines did not include Huangyan Island.

The legal action was taken by the Philippines to include Huangyan Island in law in 2009 when it amended the act about its territorial sea baseline. Now it has rushed to name the island, which is just ludicrous behavior.

PTV: Voltaire Gazmin, secretary of the Philippines' Department of National Defense, said that China, as a big country, is bullying the Philippines. You have been involved in handling this crisis from the very beginning. What's your take on the situation?

Deng: I want to list several facts. The incident took place on April 10. The Philippine warship blocked the lagoon within Huangyan Island. Their armed soldiers boarded a Chinese fishing boat, which was conducting normal operations within the lagoon, and forced the Chinese fishermen to take off their shirts and go bare-chested under the boiling hot sun for more than two hours. So, is this a case of China bullying the Philippines?

After the Chinese fishermen reported to our relevant departments, we immediately sent marine surveillance and fishery administration ships to the site.

Our ships went there to protect the lives and property of our fishermen. They exercised the maximum restraint and avoided further deterioration of the situation.

Moreover, our marine surveillance and fishery administration ships are civil vessels. What they were faced with was a 3,000-ton warship, which at present is the biggest warship of the Philippines.

The Philippines has been taking a very tough attitude toward this incident ever since the conflict first occurred, and is still doing so.

Its senior government officials, including senior military officials, have been making very aggressive, irresponsible and even wrong statements on this issue to mislead the Philippine people.

Meanwhile, during this period of time, the Philippine government has been encouraging the local media to hype up the unfriendly mood toward China. 

Recently several demonstrations against the Chinese embassy in the Philippines have occurred. It may launch an even larger scale of demonstrations by local Filipinos against Chinese embassies and consulates around the world. The Philippines even said publicly that they would make China lose face on this matter. Is this China bullying the Philippines, or is it the reverse?

PTV: If the Philippines takes further provocative actions, what should China do?

Deng: We still hope that by adopting diplomatic means we can solve the issue peacefully with the Philippines with our sincerity and patience.

We also hope that the Philippines can seek diplomatic means and work with China.