Philippines Envoy Warns Rule of Law Under Threat in South China Sea

Rule of law under great challenge in South China Sea: Philippines envoy

New Delhi, July 22

"The South China Sea has been a challenging area for several years. The aspiration for us as the Philippines and for ASEAN and I'm sure for many other countries is that oceans and including the South China Sea should be areas, where prosperity and peace and security should reign. But, the realities right now is that unfortunately in the South China Sea, rule of law is under great challenge. The UNCLOS, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is very clear as to what the entitlements of the literal states are in those waters," said Ignacio on the current security situation in the South China Sea.

"These entitlements with respect to the Philippines have been confirmed and affirmed by the ruling of the Arbitrary Tribunal of 2016. But, unfortunately, we continue to be challenged illegally and without legitimate basis in those waters where our legitimate maritime entitlements and our sovereignty is day to day under assault. So, that's an unfortunate situation, but the Philippines, we are resolved to seek a peaceful dispute resolution based on the rule of law, and that has always been our priority," he added.

His remarks come a day after the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) dismissed the China Coast Guard's (CCG) allegation that Philippine boats had deliberately rammed one of its patrol vessels near the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, describing the claims as "false and misleading".

The AFP raised questions over China Coast Guard RHIB operating within close proximity of BRP Sierra Madre, terming its presence as "an unlawful intrusion into an area where the Philippines exercises sovereign rights under international law."

Ignacio stated that China continues its claim to the South China Sea through the nine or 10-dash line. However, he noted that the historic rights have ended after the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which China itself is a party.

"China asserts historic claims to the South China Sea and by that, usually it's taken to mean the nine or 10-dash line and everything within it. But, historic rights have been extinguished by the Convention on the Law of the Sea. What states have now are entitlements defined by the Convention of the Law of the Sea by UNCLOS, to which China itself is a party and that means a 12 nautical mile territorial sea, 12 nautical mile contiguous zone. I mean, just not to be technical about it, 200 nautical mile EEZ, etc and in the Philippines case, again, that has been affirmed by the Arbitral Tribunal," he mentioned.

"So, our EEZ is clear in those areas. And those incidents in the news yesterday or two days ago pertain to an area that's technically what's called a low tide elevation, which under international law and the UNCLOS is not subject to any sovereignty claim and a foreign coast guard has no business being there because that's entirely well within Philippine EEZ and only the Philippines has that kind of there in that area and we're entitled to do what we want there," he added.

— IANS