OpinionsEcon 101The West Philippine Sea dispute

The West Philippine Sea dispute

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The West Philippine Sea, where the Spratly Islands are found, borders many states, and is also known as the South China Sea, and the East Sea in Vietnam. Actually, it consists of a number of small islands, reefs, rocks, and atolls — up to 230, or 150 “named landforms”more or less.

Three of the claimant-states — Vietnam, the Republic of China, and the People’s Republic of China — base their claims on historical ‘facts’ while the three other states — the Philippines, Brunei, and Malaysia — refer mainly to international law and conventions when justifying their claims.

On 12 July 2016, the International Arbitral Tribunal issued its award on the arbitration case in favor of the Philippines versus the claims of China over the West Philippine Sea dispute.

The Philippines bases its claims mainly on international law through the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The initial claim of the Philippines stems from the ‘discovery’ of some of the islands by a Filipino citizen named Thomas Cloma in 1956.

The 1978 formal Filipino claim, which today comprises seven islands and three reefs, is, thus, based on two main principals: First, the Philippines asserts that the islands that it claims (also known as the Kalayaan Group) were terra nullius prior to Cloma’s discovery, and that his discovery, therefore, put them under Filipino sovereignty.

Secondly, the Philippines refers to UNCLOS concept of a 200-nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) when justifying its claims. Most of the Filipino-claimed islands and reefs, thus, falls within the Philippine territory.

In contrast, the PRC bases its claims on historical evidence of Chinese presence on some of the islands. These claims go back to the Xia Dynasty (21st-16th centuries B.C.). They claim they were the first to “name, map, study, use and patrol the South China Sea and the islands therein”. The PRC refers to different types of evidence of occupancy such as old maps depicting the Spratly Islands, the discovery of old Chinese coins on the islands, and the referral to the islands in ancient Chinese history books. Thus, according to the PRC argument, the Spratlys have not been terra nullius for about 2000 years at least. The PRC today occupies nine reefs, however, claim all of the Spratly Islands.

The key points of the arbitral ruling stated that: 1) The historic rights claims of China (Nine Dash Line) were incompatible with the EEZ provided for in the UNCLO; 2) Historically, about fishers from the neighboring countries making use of the islands in the South China Sea, there was no evidence that China had historically exercised exclusive control over the waters or the resources, and declared that certain sea areas are within the EEZ of the Philippines because those areas are not overlapped by any possible entitlement of China; 3) Having found that certain areas are within the EEZ of the Philippines, the Tribunal found that China had violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone by a) interfering with Philippine fishing and petroleum exploration, b) constructing artificial islands, c) failing to prevent Chinese fishers from fishing in the zone, and d) unlawfully creating a serious risk of collision when they physically obstructed Philippine vessels.

4) China had caused severe harm to the coral reef environment, and violated its obligation to preserve and protect fragile ecosystems and the habitat of depleted, threatened, or endangered species; 5) China’s recent large-scale land reclamation and construction of artificial islands, with installation of military stations, was incompatible with the obligations on a State during dispute resolution proceedings, insofar as China has inflicted irreparable harm to the marine environment, the artificial islands are located in the Philippines’ EEZ.

So the Philippines must now use diplomacy to rally the international community so that it can effectively use the arbitral ruling to thwart the militarization of the West Philippine Sea. You think this is possible?

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Author’s email: [email protected]

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