The way China has fielded massive Coast Guard vessels as well as a number of maritime militia ships in the South China Sea, it would appear it is really intent on claiming ownership of the vital sealane where a significant percentage of global trade passes on a regular basis.
But its basis for doing so—the nine-dash line encircling the area, now increased to a ten-dash line—has no historical nor legal foundation, and even scoffed at by many nations, including those who signed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The Permanent Arbitral Tribunal established by UNCLOS said so in so many words when it favored the Philippine position on our maritime claims in the West Philippine Sea wherein lies our 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone.
Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro hit the nail right on the head when he said recently that China is trying no less than to transform the South China Sea into its own virtual “lake” where it can do pretty much what it pleases, such as harass and intimidate anyone, including our Navy and Coast Guard, to enforce its outlandish territorial claim.
Teodoro noted that China’s deployment of huge Coast Guard vessels while navigating what we consider part of Philippine waters is a “brazen attempt” to dominate the whole South China Sea.
“China is trying to [unilaterally change] the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and international law by letting other countries submit [to] the unilateral claim of the whole South China Sea as its internal waters,” the Defense Secretary pointed out.
At anyone time, according satellite photos, at least 11 Chinese maritime militia vessels were sailing in Ayungin Shoal.
The sighting comes, days after China’s back-to-back aggressive actions against Philippine vessels in the West Philippine Sea.
According to the defense chief, this move reflects China’s “illegal narrative” to push countries into accepting its own definition of what is “international law.”
We have the legal and moral imperative to protect our territorial sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea.
We are well aware that the territorial and maritime dispute with China in the South China Sea is not the sum total of our relations with our neighbor.
China is our biggest trading partner. Beijing has been helping boost our infrastructure capabilities. The Chinese are among our largest foreign tourism markets. And we have robust people-to-people relations.
But Beijing should respect a rules-based international order and what the international community recognizes as our EEZ in the South China Sea where our fishermen can ply their trade and our Coast Guard can protect our territorial integrity unhampered by the overbearing presence of its PLA-Navy, Coast Guard and maritime militia.