Reflection 5l6bs

Ginete, Aileen Rhea P.

BSSW-2

11:20-12:20 M.W.F

CHINA’S CLAIM OF THE WEST PHILIPPINE SEA AGAINST PHILIPPINES

One of the major issue and problems our country and the Aquino istration facing today is the issue of the West Philippine Sea against China. Territorial disputes in the South China Sea involve both island and maritime

claims

namely Brunei,

among

several sovereign

the People's

Republic

of

states within China,

the

region,

the Republic

of

China (Taiwan), Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. There are disputes concerning both the Spratly and the Paracel islands, as well as maritime boundaries in the Gulf of Tonkin and elsewhere. There is a further dispute in the waters near the Indonesian Natuna Islands. The interest of the different nations over the West Philippine Sea are the marine life because this west Philippine sea are rich and abundant in many different sea species that are already endangered and also the beautiful and fabulous corals. But most especially

the

main

interest

are

the

mineral

deposits.

But

China

confidentially claims that they own the said island because they base it with the ways in claiming and owning a particular territory which are (1) discovery, means that a country must explore and discover those islands and territory and (2) occupation, which is the most important in owning a territory, one must occupied and build some infrastructures within the discovered portion of territory to established control. China explained that they own the West Philippine Sea during the times of their ancestors during the different Dynasty. China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over all the waters, islands, reefs, rocks, seabed, minerals, and living and non-living resources falling within its 9-dashed line claim in the South China Sea. The 9dashed line area comprises almost 90% of the total area of the South China Sea. China’s 9-dashed line claim encroaches on 80% of the Philippines’ 200nm exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and 100% of its 150-nm extended continental shelf (ECS) facing the South China Sea - what the Philippines calls the West Philippines Sea. China’s 9-dashed line claim has similar effects on the EEZs and ECSs of Vietnam, 2 Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia facing the South China Sea. The countries most adversely affected by China’s 9-

dashed line claim, in of the size of the area encroached by the 9dashed line claim, are the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, in that order. Because of the 9 dash-line Filipino fisherman are not allowed to navigate within the said west Philippine Sea because if they will not obey the law that the China imposed within the territory the Chinese armored vessel will shot them. For me, first the case of west Philippine Sea is still ongoing and they UNCLOS has not yet decided if the China owns the West Philippine Sea. Second, we as Filipinos we have still a right over the West Philippine Sea based on what our Philippine Constitution states under article I. China must not directly established a law and operate in the West Philippine Sea. In claiming and owning a territory is not easy because there are many process to accomplish and most especially the UNCLOS or the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea which will governs the conflicting maritime claims over the South China Sea. UNCLOS codified the then existing customary international law of the sea, created novel entitlements in favor of coastal and landlocked states, and adopted a compulsory dispute settlement mechanism to insure that there is a final authoritative body to interpret and apply its provisions. UNCLOS governs only maritime entitlements, maritime space and maritime disputes. The maritime entitlements of states - the territorial sea, EEZ and ECS and their resources – emanate and are drawn only from baselines on continental land or islands. UNCLOS provides for a compulsory dispute settlement mechanism, subject to certain types of disputes that states are allowed to exclude from compulsory arbitration. All states that ratified UNCLOS bound themselves in advance to this compulsory dispute settlement mechanism. The Philippines and China, having ratified UNCLOS, are bound by this compulsory dispute settlement mechanism. UNCLOS does not govern territorial sovereignty disputes over land or land features in the oceans and seas. Territorial sovereignty 3 disputes over land or land features - that is, islands, reefs and rocks above water at high tide - are governed by the rules and principles of general international law. An international tribunal can acquire jurisdiction over territorial sovereignty disputes only with the consent of the states that are parties to the particular dispute, in the absence of a treaty binding them in advance to the jurisdiction of such tribunal. There is no such treaty between the Philippines and China. In short, any maritime dispute between the Philippines and China is subject to compulsory arbitration under UNCLOS, except for the disputes that China has excluded from compulsory arbitration in accordance with UNCLOS. In contrast, the territorial sovereignty dispute

between the Philippines and China over land and land features is not subject to compulsory arbitration. The Philippines has a right to claim and further has the chance to own the West Philippine Sea because under the Article I, National Territory, states that in which all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction–includes any territory that presently belongs or might in the future belong to the Philippines through any of the accepted international modes of acquiring territory. The archipelagic principle which has two elements: 1. The definition of internal waters (supra); 2. The straight baseline method of delineating the territorial sea – consists of drawing straight lines connecting the outermost points on the coast without departing to any appreciable extent from the general direction of the coast. Important distances with respect to the waters around the Philippines -Territorial Sea 12 nautical miles (n.m.) -Contiguous Zone 12 n.m. from the edge of the territorial sea -Exclusive Economic Zone 200 n.m. from the baseline Whereas Philippines has still the rights within this territorial boundaries in which the china claims that it is one of their territory but based on what Article I of the 1987 Constitution that it is included in the Philippine territory the 12 n.m which is the territorial sea, contiguous zone and EEZ. In 2014, the United States responded to China's claims over the fishing grounds of other nations by saying that "China has not offered any explanation or basis under international law for these extensive maritime claims. The Chinese Foreign Ministry asked the United States to maintain a neutral position on the issue. The United States continued freedom of navigation operations, including in the South China Sea. Sources closer to Pentagon have also said that the US istration is planning to deploy some naval assets within the 12 nautical miles of the Spratly Islands. In response to this announcement, Beijing issued a strict warning and said that she would not allow any country to violate China's territorial waters in the name of "Freedom of Navigation". On 27 October 2015, a US destroyer USS Lassen navigated within 12 nautical miles of the emerging land masses in the Spratly Islands as the first in a series of "Freedom of Navigation Operation". This is the first time since 2012 that the US has directly challenged China's claims of the island's territorial limit. On 8–9 November 2015, two US B-52 strategic bombers flew near artificial Chinese-built islands in the area of the Spratly Islands and were ed by

Chinese ground controllers but continued their mission undeterred. Based on this news, in which the United Nations, in favor of the Philippines navigate their Navy ship within the West Philippine Sea to established the freedom of navigation and to show and inform China about the freedom of navigation. Today, it is still debatable and the Philippines filed a case over China in UNCLOS. Many Asian countries and even the UN are in favor for the Philippines. We as Filipinos must our government in winning this territory. We must be strong in facing this problem against the most influenced and most advance in technology which is China. Let us stand and fight for what we have because it is not already an ordinary issue to be solve but it is a battle of territory, and based on that we will fight and defend what we have because we have our constitution that states all about our territory in which we can exercise our power and freedom of navigation. Yet, we are a poor and still a developing country but we have the capabilities and potential to fight for this even in front of the leaders and defend it in UNCLOS. As a student we must be aware not only the issues of our country but also the laws that our country has established.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Allen Yu, On China’s 9-Dashed Line and Why the Arbitrational Tribunal in Hague Should Dismiss Philippine’s Case Against China Daniel J. Dzurek (1996). The Spratly Islands Dispute: Who's on First?. IBRU. pp. 44–47. ISBN 978-1-897643-23-5. Hector S. De Leon, 1985 Phil. Constitution http://philippinesintheworld.org/sites/default/files/FINAL_West%20Phil%20Sea %20Primer_UP%20(15%20July%202013).pdf http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-13748349 Jump up^ Amanda Lago (3 December 2012). "No moves to redeploy patrol vessels to Panatag Shoal yet — DFA chief". GMA News. Retrieved 5 December 2012. Kelsey Broderick, (May 2015) Chinese Activities in the South China Sea Implications for the American Pivot to Asia, Rouchelle R. Dinglasan (1 December 2012). "China’s 'new rule' in South China Sea is threat to all countries — DFA". GMA News. Retrieved 5 December 2012. Sean Mirski, The South China Sea Dispute: A Brief History THE RULE OF LAW IN THE WEST PHILIPPINE SEA DISPUTE (Publication Version)