By Khylla Meneses, Akbayan Youth national chairperson
We in Akbayan Youth are standing our ground: we condemn China’s repeated violations of Philippine sovereignty. Their embassy’s recent pushback after being called out by Senator Risa Hontiveros is nothing short of audacious.
They talk about “crossing the line,” but the truth is China has been a “bad guest” for a very long time. What is truly crossing the line is their militarization and large-scale resource extraction within our Exclusive Economic Zone. Our sovereignty isn’t a stage for political games. If this were a play, the real villains would be the foreign intruders invading our waters, stealing our resources, and putting our environment and my fellow Filipinos in grave danger.
Walang karapatan ang China na magsiga-sigaan sa Pilipinas at bastusin ang mga opisyal nito na pinagtatanggol lang ang soberanya ng bansa. (China has no right to act like a bully in the Philippines and disrespect officials who are simply defending our sovereignty.) Their demand for “clarification” is a blatant violation of the Vienna Convention — it is a transparent attempt to intimidate officials who are merely reporting factual violations in our waters.
I believe the Embassy’s demand for explanations should be directed at China itself. As the Filipino youth, we—along with the international community—deserve answers. We deserve to know why there are dangerous maneuvers, intentional rammings, and water cannon attacks against our PCG (Philippine Coast Guard) and BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources) vessels. We deserve an explanation for the harassment of our fishermen, the swarming of maritime militia, and the construction of artificial islands. These are all clear violations of the 2016 Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) Arbitral Award.
These aren’t “smears” or “slanders,” as they claim. These are factual accounts backed by official evidence.
We are urging the government to firmly uphold the 2016 ruling and hold foreign actors accountable. True dialogue begins with respect for sovereignty. As Filipinos, we will continue to defend the West Philippine Sea — peacefully, factually and without fear.