RP has no plans to provoke China

RP has no plans to provoke China

MANILA (AFP): President Fidel Ramos yesterday brushed aside a Chinese warning over media trip to the disputed Spratly islands organized by the Philippines government.

Ramos insisted the event had been "non-provocative."

Beijing strongly protested against last Saturday's media tour, during which two Philippine Navy vessels engaged in a tense, 70- minute standoff with two Chinese boats.

Journalists were taken on helicopter trips to see Chinese structures built on the Mischief Reef in the isles. The reef is claimed by the Philippines.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman warned Tuesday that Manila has underestimated China's tolerance and that the Philippines would have to assume "complete responsibility for the consequences" of its future action.

"People were just taking pictures and fishing so why should it arouse much concern on our part?" Ramos told a news conference.

"We are just exercising the rights of our people, as well as foreign residents in our country, to information that is important to the Philippine public. It's not a provocative move as far as I see it."

The Chinese are thought to have moved on to the previously unmanned reef last September. They have erected structures on stilts described by Manila as a naval support station.

Manila, militarily one of the weakest Spratly claimants, is using media exposure to sway international opinion over the dispute, analysts said.

Asked if he thought the row would jeopardize prospects for bilateral development of the chain, said to be rich in oil and mineral resources, Ramos said: "We cannot speculate on what China will do but I hope that they will remain committed" to a peaceful solution.

He said the Philippine Navy had merely responded to "a long- standing request" by the press to be allowed into the military- occupied chain, which is also claimed in whole or in part by Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

"The participation of the military there was first to provide transportation ... and secondly to make sure that the journalists do not stray into ... islands claimed by other countries."

Ramos cited an incident this year when a local television crew hired boats to go to Mischief Reef, 125 nautical miles west of the southwestern Philippine island of Palawan.

The navy tracked down the press party and forced them to return to Palawan. "We don't want that sort of thing to happen," Ramos said.

He said he has received fresh assurances from Chinese President Jiang Zemin "that the conflict in the South China Sea islands will be resolved peacefully."