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China urged the Philippines Wednesday not to "furtherdamage" their bilateral relations in the wake of a month-longstandoff at Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei also said China is willing tojointly explore gas resources in waters off the coast of the NanshaIslands in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea). "We hope the Philippines will not further damage bilateralrelations," Hong was quoted as saying in a news release posted Wednesday evening on the Chinese government"s web portal. But Hong"s statement came amid a fresh wave of cyber-attackson Philippine government websites that suggested the attackers wereChinese. Among the government websites attacked Wednesday were those of thePhilippines News Agency and Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical andAstronomical Services Administration. The standoff started April 8 when Philippine military forcesspotted Chinese fishermen taking marine species from the area. But before a crew from a Philippine Navy ship could make arrests,Chinese ships blocked the vessel"s path. China claims sovereignty over the Panatag Shoal, which it refers toas Huangyan Island. Hong noted Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying already statedChina"s stance and requirements in the representations madeto the Philippine side on Monday. "We have noted that the Philippine side has repeatedly madestrongly-worded remarks about the incident on Huangyan Island,which have provoked public feelings and severely undermined theatmosphere of bilateral relations," he said. ‘Instigations" On the other hand, Hong claimed the Philippines instigated thePhilippine public and Philippine people living overseas to stagedemonstrations against China. This has aroused strong responses and concern among Chinese livingoverseas, he said. Philippine groups, including those with links to President BenignoAquino III"s allies in Malacañang, are planning tostage protests against Chinese presence at the Panatag Shoal. On the other hand, Hong maintained there is no change inChina"s position on resolving the current tensions throughdiplomatic efforts. He urged the Philippines to seriously respond to China"sconcerns and return to the right track. Gas exploration Hong also said China supports communication and cooperation betweenfirms of the two countries on gas exploration at Reed Bank. However, he stressed that the Liyue Tan is a part of China"sNansha Islands. Citing media reports, the Chinese government web portal said aPhilippine firm is discussing a possible partnership with ChinaNational Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) on gas exploration at the LiyueTan (Reed Bank). "(But) if the Philippine side unilaterally conducts gasexploration in the sea area neighboring the Liyue Tan, it willdefinitely harm China"s rights and interests," he said,adding that China firmly opposes such action. Hong added China is ready to discuss jointly developing gasresources with the Philippines, but it is vital for the Philippinesto show its sincerity. PHL: Nothing provocative Earlier in the day, Malacanang assured that the Philippinegovernment is not doing anything provoking that would escalate thetension between the country and China over Panatag Shoal. "There is nothing provocative that we have done in the areaso I don"t ascribe to the statement that we are provoking orescalating tensions in the Panatag Shoal," presidentialspokesperson Edwin Lacierda said at a press briefing. He added the Philippines has five fishing vessels, one Coast Guardvessel and one Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessel inthe area. "There have been no attempts on both parties to escalatetensions as far as we know. We have documented everything and wereceived reports from (PCG chief) Commodore Edmund Tan about thesituation in Scarborough," he reiterated. Chinese vice foreign minister Fu Ying earlier said Beijing was ready for any escalation of a tense maritme standoff with thePhilippines over the disputed shoal. Fu said the Philippines is making serious mistakes and stepping upefforts to escalate the tension. "The Philippine side... repeatedly made erroneous remarkswhich misled the public in the Philippines and the internationalcommunity, played up the public feelings, thus severely damagingthe atmosphere of the bilateral relations between China and thePhilippines," said Fu. Despite this, Lacierda was still hopeful that there would be adiplomatic solution to the tension. "We certainly hope so. We will exhaust all efforts at adiplomatic solution to the Panatag Shoal standoff," he said. He reiterated that bringing the matter to an internationalarbitration mechanism is the logical way to resolve the tension. "Nobody doubts or nobody can question the fact that China isa signatory to UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of theSeas), the Philippines is a signatory to UNCLOS; and, therefore, itis only logical that we bring it up to an international arbitrationmechanism which is provided by the convention where both China andthe Philippines are signatories," Lacierda said. He also said Filipino fishermen are still able to fish in Panatagshoal. "There is no incident reported by the Coast Guard or at leastthe Coast Guard vessel to Commodore Edmund Tan that there areattempts to prevent the Filipino fishermen from fishing in PanatagShoal," he said. He further said the Philippines continues to document anydevelopment in Panatag shoal. "So far we have not done anything to provoke and theinstruction from the President is very clear, we do not wish toescalate tensions. And so the only thing that we"re doingright now is to document the situation right now in Panatag Shoaland if ever there are any incidents, they always report to mediaand we will report it to you," he said. — ELR, GMA News. I am an expert from iphoneoemparts.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China IPhone 3GS Replacement Parts , China Mobile Phone Flex Cable, IPhone 3G OEM Parts,and more.
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