The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today urged the Filipino people to condemn and protest the passage of a Chinese aircraft carrier through the Sibutu Strait and the continuing swarm of sea vessels around the country’s Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea.

Recent Japanese satellite reports show that on July 20, China aircraft carrier Liaoning passed through the Sibutu Strait which connects the Sulu Sea and the Sulawesi Sea. It turned off its automatic identification system to enter Philippine seas surreptitiously.

Today, government officials confirmed reports that Chinese militia vessels continue to swarm around the Pag-asa Island preventing Filipino fishermen from freely fishing in the area.

The CPP said the “continuing incursions of China on Philippine seas are a direct violation of Philippine national sovereignty and must be vigorously opposed by the Filipino people.”

The CPP said the recent incursions come on top of the recent ramming of Filipino fishing vessel GemVer by an unidentified Chinese boat, Chinese land reclamations and building of military facilities in the West Philippine Sea and the takeover of Chinese Coast Guard vessels of the fishing grounds in the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoals.

“Millions of dollars’ worth of Philippine marine and mineral resources are being siphoned off by China and they are after hundreds of billions more,” pointed out the CPP. “China’s incursions on Philippine seas directly affect the Filipino fishermen and are also an affront on every individual patriotic Filipino.”

“By kowtowing to China, in exchange for loans and cuts on China loans, the Duterte regime has allowed China to take over Philippine maritime territory with impunity,” said the CPP.

The CPP added: “The diplomatic protests fired off by Duterte’s foreign secretary are a feeble response to the serious violations of Philippine sovereignty.”

“The defense of Philippine sovereignty is up to the Filipino people,” added the CPP. “The Filipino people must unite and act as one powerful patriotic force in order to drive away China from Philippine waters.”

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