A Philippine senator is protesting over the proposed visit by Taiwan's defense chief and a group of legislators to the disputed Spratley islands next week.

The Taiwanese delegation will visit a new airstrip on the island of Taiping which Taipei controls.

Shirley Escalante reports.

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, head of the Senate foreign relations committee and an international law expert, says the visit of Taiwan's officials to a newly constructed airstrip on Taiping island in the Spratleys may be considered a provocative act. She says the airstrip jeopardizes the freedom of overflight on the South China sea which is provided for by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The senator also says the visit is a violation of the 2002 China-ASEAN Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. Though Taiwan is not a party to the declaration, Senator Santiago insists it has evolved into regional customary international law. She urged the Philippine foreign affairs department to send a note to Taiwan to halt the visit. Meantime, Philippine military and police officials yesterday visited their forces stationed on one of the islands in the Spratleys claimed by the Philippines, and said diplomacy is still the first line of defense for troops in the south China sea.

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