MANILA — A Chinese legislator has postponed a visit to the Philippines this week, officials here said Tuesday, amid fresh tensions over disputed islands in the South China Sea. Li Jianguo, vice chairman and secretary general of China’s National People’s Congress, postponed the visit “indefinitely due to urgent matters at home,”

presidential spokesman Cerge Remonde told reporters. Li had been scheduled to visit President Gloria Arroyo Wednesday at the Malacanang presidential palace. However, Remonde insisted that “we believe the postponement has nothing to do with the baselines law. Our diplomatic relations with China remain strong.”

The controversial law, which was signed by Arroyo last week, seeks to make the Philippines’ maritime boundaries compliant with a UN treaty but does not claim disputed territory, according to her spokesman.
Beijing earlier this week sent a patrol ship to the Spratly islands, to assist Chinese fishing boats and transport vessels in an area that China claims as its exclusive maritime zones.

The move has been largely seen as China flexing its military might against the smaller claimants to the Spratlys and the nearby Paracels, following Manila’s passage of the baselines law. The law includes parts of the Spratlys as well as the Scarborough shoal, which is also claimed by Beijing. Both China and Vietnam have filed diplomatic protests over the law.

Malacanang on Monday said the government will exercise diplomacy over issues of the disputed Spratly Islands after China sent a patrol ship there over the weekend. Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said the Palace will study the situation as they do not want to “overreact” on China’s recent move.

“We have to study this very carefully. We don’t want to overreact because we don’t want any tension,” Fajardo said, adding that the first line of defense begins with diplomacy. Remonde said the government will continue to uphold the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) where the Philippines was one of the signatories.

“The Philippines adheres to the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and urges all parties to adhere to this as well,” Remonde said in a statement.

The declaration aims to promote peace and stability among nations around South China Sea where there are a number of overlapping territorial claims which include the Kalayaan Island Group and Scarborough Shoal.

The DOC was signed by Asean member nations and China on November 2002.Under the declaration, concerned parties “undertake to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force, through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned.”

Fajardo said Malacanang is confident the Spratly Islands territorial dispute can be resolved by the United Nations, but noted that the Philippines should not depend on the powerful body’s protection alone. “We can’t just depend on the UN as first line of defense. Of course, we have to protect our sovereignty,” she said, adding that the Philippines will prepare itself “for any consequences that might happen” as a result of China’s move.

China has defended its move to send a patrol ship to the disputed Spratly islands, saying it was not a violation of an agreement to maintain the peace in the South China Sea. The vessel is a “fishery patrol ship, not a warship,” Hua Ye, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Manila, said in a statement. “I don’t think the Chinese side has done anything or violated the Declaration of the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea.”

That 2002 declaration called on all claimants to the Spratlys -- including the Philippines and China -- to refrain from any action that could heighten tension, including military build-up and construction work. Apart from China and the Philippines, the islands are also being claimed in whole or in part by Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.