Beijing Offers Ambiguously Dated Document, Expert Notes It Appears To Be Laminated, Philippine Navy Unimpressed

Filed for Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat, whose international desk keeps a stock lead in a drawer for exactly this category of story.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Chinese maritime administration representatives have formally restated that a Chinese fishing fleet operating within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone has “always been standing in that particular patch of water”, and have offered in support a document described as “historical, comprehensive, and culturally foundational”. The document is dated “approximately the Ming dynasty” and appears, per a Philippine academic who reviewed a photograph, to be laminated.

The Document, Reviewed

Dr. Salvador Estrada-Villaroman, a maritime historian at the University of the Philippines, called the text “conventional within the genre of retrospective Chinese territorial claims”, but noted the laminate “is unusual”. The lamination “would not have been available in any dynasty” and “is consistent with a modern office supply store”. Beijing has not responded on the lamination question.

The Philippine Response

The Department of Foreign Affairs noted that the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s 2016 ruling remains “still, as of today, a legal document”. An AFP spokesperson described the Chinese claim as “creative”. Asked whether the Navy would act, the spokesperson said: “The Philippine Navy is already taking action. The action is called ‘continuing to be in the water’.”

A Parallel Elsewhere

Per the South China Morning Post, this is part of a broader regional pattern. The London Prat’s Strait of Hormuz coverage identified an identical operating mode in the Persian Gulf, in which a nation state behaves as though a disputed body of water were a lightly contested home driveway.

Fishermen Weigh In

Mr. Rogelio Buenaventura, 54, of Zambales, said through a translator: “They say it is theirs. We say it is ours. It is ours. We go fishing.” Mr. Buenaventura then went fishing.

International Observers React

A US spokesperson expressed “continued concern”. Japan expressed “deep concern”. Vietnam expressed “serious concern”. A Philippine senator, who was not asked, volunteered “mild fatigue”.

Further reading: Private Eye. SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/