By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora
MANILA – The top diplomats of the Group of Seven (G7) have condemned China’s “illicit, provocative, coercive, and dangerous actions” in the Indo-Pacific as they aired their concern over the harassment against Filipino vessels in the South China Sea (SCS).
A statement released by the US Embassy in Manila on Saturday said the G7 expressed concern over the situation in the South China Sea, including the “increasing use” of dangerous maneuvers and water cannons against Philippine vessels.
The G7 foreign ministers, who held a meeting in Charlevoix, Quebec in Canada on March 12-14, also hit “efforts to restrict freedom of navigation and overflight” through militarization and coercion in the South China Sea, describing these as a violation of international law.
The group said the members would cooperate to “increase security and resilience across the Indo-Pacific.”
“G7 members reiterated their commitment to upholding a free, open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific, based on sovereignty, territorial integrity, peaceful resolution of disputes, fundamental freedoms, and human rights,” the statement quoted the group as saying.
In a declaration on maritime security during the meeting, the seven foreign ministers also backed the negotiation of “provisional arrangements of a practical nature” but did not mention any specific areas.
“In areas pending final delimitation, we underline the importance of coastal states refraining from unilateral actions that cause permanent physical change to the marine environment insofar as such actions jeopardize or hamper the reaching of the final agreement, as well as the importance of making every effort to enter into provisional arrangements of a practical nature, in those areas,” they said.
The Philippines and China previously signed a “provisional arrangement” for the country’s unhampered rotation and resupply (RORE) missions to the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal.
To this day, Manila said it continues to honor this understanding “without prejudice” to the country’s position over the West Philippine Sea, the Philippine maritime zone within the larger South China Sea.
The G7 represents the world’s leading industrialized democracies – Canada, France, the United States, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. (PNA)
