China to turn Panatag into an island? Teodoro asks amid ‘Freudian slip’

Defense Sec. Gilberto Teodoro Jr. —PHOTO FROM THE OFFICIAL FBPAGE OF THE PHILIPPINE DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENSE

MANILA, Philippines — China’s repeated reference to Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal as an “island” could be a “Freudian slip” that reveals its covert plans to turn the sandbank into an artificial island, according to Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.

China’s term for Panatag Shoal is Huangyan “island” despite being a shoal, which is just an area of shallow water.

“They’re characterizing Scarborough Shoal as an island, which probably is a Freudian slip on their part,” Teodoro said during his keynote speech at the luncheon meeting organized by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.

Teodoro further elaborated his point during a chance interview with reporters.

“That’s a shoal,” he said of Panatag, also known as Bajo de Masinloc. “But they call it an island. So does it mean they will make an island out of it?”

READ: PH security council rejects China’s nature reserve at Bajo de Masinloc

Since its effective takeover in 2012, China enforced what experts call “exclusion zone enforcement” around the Panatag Shoal, barring Filipino fisherfolk from entering in an outright disregard of the 2016 Arbitral Award which declared the area a traditional fishing ground for the Philippines, China, and Vietnam.

READ: Navy: Structural remnants in Scarborough Shoal are PH-made

Almost a month after the August 11 collision of two Chinese ships, Beijing also announced its plans to establish a so-called “national nature reserve” at the shoal.

To date, there are no structures erected on Panatag Shoal.

The 2002 Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea prohibits new occupation and building of structures in any maritime features in South China Sea, including in the West Philippine Sea.

The DOC is a document which China signed with the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Despite this, Beijing’s reclamation activities in the South China Sea, including parts of the West Philippine Sea, have reached about 3,000 hectares.

Chinese-occupied Panganiban (Mischief) Reef became “the largest artificial island” in the South China Sea at 394 hectares, according to maritime law expert and University of the Philippines law professor Jay Batongbacal.

Panganiban Reef is inside Manila’s exclusive economic zone but Beijing occupied it in the 1990s by building octagonal huts which it said was to cater to local fishermen. /cb