The Philippines is celebrating today the second anniversary of its landmark arbitration award against China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea handed down by an arbitral tribunal in The Hague.
Crucially, the award legally nullified China’s expansive “nine-dash-line map” and “historic rights” claims which cover much of the South China Sea.
It also censured the Asian powerhouse for restricting Filipino fishermen’s access to the contested Scarborough Shoal as well as inflicting irreparable ecological damage due to its massive reclamation and island-building activities in the maritime area.
Until now, the Philippines remains sharply divided on how to leverage its arbitration award. Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly downplayed the relevance of the ruling by questioning its enforceability amid China’s vociferous opposition.
Soon after taking office in mid-2016, Duterte declared that he would “set aside” the arbitration award in order to pursue a “soft landing” in bilateral relations with China. In exchange, he has hoped for large-scale Chinese investments as well as resource-sharing in the South China Sea.
China has dismissed the award as a “piece of trash paper”, adopting a “three no’s” policy of non-participation, non-recognition and non-compliance vis-à-vis the award, which, according to international law formed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), is final and binding.
Other major leaders in the Philippines, however, have taken a tougher stance and continue to try to leverage the award to resist China’s expanding footprint in the area.
The Stratbase-Albert Del Rosario Institute, an influential think tank co-founded by former Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario, hosted today a high-level forum on the topic at the prestigious Manila Polo Club.
Del Rosario oversaw the arbitration proceedings against China under Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino. He opened the event attended by dignitaries from major Western and Asian countries with a strident speech which accused China of trying to “dominate the South China Sea through force and coercion.”
He defended the arbitration award as an “overwhelming victory” to resist “China’s unlawful expansion agenda.”
The ex-top diplomat also accused the Duterte administration of acquiescence to China by acting as an “abettor” and “willing victim” by soft-pedaling the Philippines’ claims in the South China Sea and refusing to raise the arbitration award in multilateral fora.
The keynote speaker of the event was Vice President Leni Robredo, who has recently emerged as the de facto leader of the opposition against Duterte. Though falling short of directly naming Duterte, her spirited speech served as a comprehensive indictment of the administration’s policy in the South China Sea.
“Today, more than at any other time, our people must all be keenly aware of how foreign policy affects our daily lives,” warned Robredo, calling on Filipino people to be cognizant of the implications of the South China Sea disputes.
“This is the time for us to peacefully protest any effort to limit or control movement in these waters. As neighbors and friends, we must stand in opposition to military build-ups in the [South China Sea],“ she said.
Robredo thanked the proponents of the arbitration award as national heroes and patriots who have provided the Philippines a line of defense against Chinese aggression:
“On behalf of the entire nation, let me say this – we, the Filipino people, are grateful for the bold fight you labored on behalf of all of us.”
“This is the day to celebrate that decision, and this is the day to start planning how we should move forward,” declared the vice-president, calling on the government to use the award as a key bargaining chip.
“Our hard-won victory was a victory of the rule of law and the UNCLOS framework, and provides the foundation for all future engagements in the West Philippine Sea. It also sets the stage for peacefully reclaiming a massive resource, much bigger than our archipelago’s total land area.”
“Sadly, since then, we have lost that advantage,“ she said, while noting the recent harassment Filipino fisherman have faced by Chinese paramilitary officials in contested areas of the South China Sea.
In June, the government called on China to stop confiscating the catch of Filipino fishermen in the contested area, saying at the time that the practice was “unacceptable.”
Her keynote address, widely covered by the local media, was followed by an even more spirited speech by interim Supreme Court Chief Justice Antonio Carpio, another leading critic of Duterte’s foreign policy.
The chief magistrate, who also oversaw the Philippines’ arbitration proceedings against China, lashed out at Duterte for placing the landmark award in a “deep freeze.”
He called on the Duterte administration to leverage the award by negotiating maritime delimitation agreements with other Southeast Asian claimant states such as Malaysia and Vietnam which welcomed the arbitral tribunal’s nullification of China’s nine-dashed-line map.
He also called on the Philippines to expand its maritime entitlement claims in the area, in accordance to the arbitration award, by applying for an extended continental shelf in the South China Sea at the UN.
The event, which saw the gathering of leading statesmen, served as a potent reminder of the fierce internal debate in the Philippines over the current direction of its policy towards China. Despite Duterte’s best efforts, relations with China remain fraught with uncertainty and tension.
The theft of 30 kilo from Filipino was a big blunder by the Chinese Coast Guard. The US State Department must be laughing and cannot believe their luck. Finally, the US can get President Duterte popularity reduced and prepare to unseat President Duterte and get a US puppet to do whatever the US Master wants.
If China want to get access to the 100 million people market and a fluent English speaking qualified labor force they must behave. China must allow Chinese fishermen to fish in the disputed waters and give clear instructions to the Chinese Coast Guard they should help the fishermen not take their catch.
Talk is cheap and easy. But It is not the real world. All imperial powers before China did what China is doing now. Philippine was colonised by Spain and then by the US. Still to this day it is a dependent of US for they can’t live without the US. So what has changed? Chest trumping is nice when you don’t have to face the enemies. Get real.
So because Ph was a ‘whore house’ for the USA (your words) it is ok for China to bully them ?
Chinese have small weapons, good luck in finding a wife
Your point is ? Do you think Ph wants to change the US ofr China ? No they prefer Yankie weapons to smaller chinese ones.
China’s claim to the sea is based on one word: first. The sea was first discovered by the Chinese who believe. How did the Chinese know nobody else had discovered the sea before them?
Relics on islands and historical documents on governance, etc.
David Mak ….How did you know other people (than the Chinese) had not visited and traveled and fished in the sea before the date recorded on the Chinese relics and documents? The South China Sea is surrounded by 6 different countries. How did China know the other 5 countries had not discovered those islands and the sea before Chinese did?
Philippines be gobbled up by funneling armada. Philippines only pumped up with fighting words. Now who determines an advancing military? The UN?
The philippines is gullible and naive though brave; no doubt.
The arbitral tribunal’s rule on the South China Sea Case is flawed, biased and absurd. It lacks due process of law. The whole case proceeded with only one-side opinions. The arbitral tribunal did not follow the procedures set up in UNCLOS and violate the Articles in UNCLOS. The tribunal expands it authority to make a ‘law’ and does not respect the earlier precedent also. The case was based on “assumptions” that ends up with an illogical, ridiculous rule. What are the world’s responses to the SCS arbitration? The fact is, according to AMTI CSIS (a US Think Tank), there are only 7 states (United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Vietnam, and Philippines) that recognize the rules. Before the ruling, there were 41 countries publicly supporting Arbitral Proceedings as Binding; however, after the ruling, only 7 states recognize the rule. Why? Because international societies know the SCS arbitration does not follow the procedures set up in UNCLOS and violate the Articles in UNCLOS, the tribunal expands its authority to make a ‘law’ and does not respect the earlier precedent. There is no sense for them to recognize this kind of rules.
***United front mounts against Duterte’s China policy***
like Vietnamese (of none Chinese ethnicity), Filipinos, too, has always had this “THINGY” about us Chinese anyhow therefore anti-Chinese demonstrations like these which have the signatures of foreign intelligence agencies stencilled all over it is no surprise to me. Period.
As in the cases of the castrating of Chinese “boys” in that country in the 70’s and 80’s to keep them from reproducing; the targeting (kidnaping/killing) of Chinese (visitors locals alike) for ransom; as in the (racially motivated) mass murder (tour bus killing in Manila) where everyone in the bus was killed in cold blood, all are consequences Chinese must live with in the Philippines…
Fingers crossed however that [Dutertes associations with his Chinese heritage] will start to make a difference for both Chinese and Filipinos in the future to come, because, deep down, I believe that the genomic tie between Chinese and Filipino is much more to than meet the eye, i.e.,…
intertwined with the blood of Chinese and Filipinos whose livelihood is fishering from the very start of Chinese and Filipino time therefore they shouldn’t discriminate against one another…
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To be precise, arbitral tribunal, is an ANGLO creation conceived to serve only Anglo interests and the interests of the western alliance only.. it was not drafted to serve anyone else’s interest, not Filipinos interest, not Pooper interests, not Malaysian, Indonesian, or Bruinee interests. End of arbitral tribunal story.
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I beg to differ. Pinots are not lazy. In fact, they are very hard working. What defines them is OPPORTUNITY or the lack of it thereof of. This situation makes Filipinos SIMPLE and INNOCENT and hence, easily subjugated or easily exploited just as these demonstrators are.
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Chinese traders had throughout history been plowing the waters of the South China Sea, inter-breed with and intermingled with people of these Islands can this region.
Historical accounts ( mapping’s and romantic documentations ) has clearly mentioned and depicted these parts (9 dash line) clearly as Chinese through the various of china’s dynasties which is why China deem it her core interest.
This is NOT a case of [ if we Chinese were the first there ] like Columbus, Captain Cook, or captain Black Bear was to the new world.
This is pure and simple a case of home and a case of home is where the heart is for us Chinese therefore this region is none negotiable…
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Flora de la Sinensis …By "This is NOT a case of [ if we Chinese were the first there ] "…..you meant other people were fishing and traveling in the SCS too, though they did not leave any relics and documents (maybe they had some). Then other people have renamed the sea into East Vietnam Sea, West Philippine Sea, North Natuna Sea. What you have to say about their re-naming? It means, they have their own form of dashed lines.
You leave our territory, the whole world knows who is the land grabber.