Government, commercial and exploration vessels as well as small fishermen have been warned to be on alert as Beijing’s new law authorizing its coast guard to fire on any foreign ship and demolish structures in the South China Sea it claims almost wholly as its own takes effect today. Sen. Francis Tolentino, vice chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, said the new Chinese law violated several international statutes, including the 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated China’s sweeping nine-dash-line claim over the disputed waters and freedom of navigation. “You are prohibited against using violence or threatening to use violence under international law, like (the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea)… there many laws being violated here,” Tolentino told dzBB yesterday.

Romero, P. (2021, February 1). Navy, fisherfolk warned vs 'violent' Chinese coast guard law. The Philippine Star, pp. 1, 4.