Manila ‘reinforces’ map protest

The Philippines announced Wednesday that it will stamp visas for Chinese visitors on a separate form instead of directly in new Chinese passports to "reinforce its protest" against a map that claims sovereignty over the South China Sea.

A statement released by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday said: "Further to the Philippine protest against the inclusion of the nine-dash line map in the Chinese e-passport… the Philippines will no longer stamp its visas on the Chinese e-passport."

The nine-dash line is a demarcation line used by China for its sovereignty claim in the South China Sea.

According to People's Daily Online, China started issuing new passports this May that contains a map claiming maritime sovereignty in the South China Sea, where China has disputes with neighboring countries.

"This action is being undertaken to avoid the Philippines being misconstrued as legitimizing the nine-dash line every time a Philippine visa is stamped on such Chinese e-passport," the statement said.

It added that the country is preparing an early implementation of the action.

"The US is probably behind the moves of these countries in order to try to get back to Asia, though it declared that it doesn't take sides on the South China Sea issue," Wang Dehua, director of South Asia Studies at Tongji University, told the Global Times.

US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland responded to the passport issue for the third time in a row at a regular press briefing on Wednesday and said that the US was making some representations to China.

"And there'll be more senior representations tomorrow as well," she added.

Nuland reaffirmed her statement at the briefing on Tuesday that the US still accepted the new passport as a valid travel document because states can decide what their passports look like as long as they meet international standards.

Nuland didn't give a clear answer to whether the US would like China to remove the map or make a declaration that the map doesn't necessarily reflect China's goals for the territory, but she did voice concerns.

"This is not helpful to what we all want, which is an environment where the countries involved in this can settle it," she said.

The map has also drawn protests from Vietnam and India. Vietnam also issued a separate visa sheet, while India stamped its own map on the visa.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said on Wednesday that relevant countries should not read too much into the map.