PH pushes arbitration of dispute with China before UN envoys

From InterAksyon (Oct 31): PH pushes arbitration of dispute with China before UN envoys



Paul Reichler and Ambassador Libran Cabactulan at a forum in New York where the Philippines pressed the need for maritime arbitration of its territorial disputes with China. (photo from DFA)

The Philippines reiterated its call in the United Nations for the peaceful resolution of its territorial disputes with China through maritime arbitration based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

At a forum in New York with UN diplomats and legal advisers of various foreign affairs ministries, the Philippines’ lead counsel in the arbitration case, Paul Reichler, stressed the importance of the process, which he said, “gives politically, economically or militarily weaker countries “the rare opportunity to hope, through peaceful settlement and the rule of law, for equal treatment with stronger countries,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Over the last three years, tensions have been rising in disputed areas of the West Philippine Sea, also known as the South China Sea, over increasingly aggressive Chinese intrusion and posturing.

China insists on its territorial claim over the whole body of water, a strategic shipping lane that is also believed to lie on top of vast mineral and gas resources.

Ambassador Libran Cabactulan, the Philippines’ permanent representative to the UN, stressed that the UNCLOS, “our constitution for the oceans, is becoming more relevant than ever before, particularly for developing countries which are poised to explore and exploit their own exclusive economic zone, their own continental shelf, and even the deep seabed, for their development.”

Reichler, a noted international lawyer, has “extensive experience representing sovereign countries before the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, among others,” Cabactulan said.

He represented Nicaragua in the landmark 1986 ICJ case in which the World Court ruled that the US had illegally used force, in violation of the UN Charter, against the Sandinista government.

At the forum, Reichler gave an overview of UNCLOS’ compulsory arbitration process, interpreting issues of choice of procedure and jurisdiction through illustrative cases he previously worked on as counsel for sovereign states.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/73874/ph-pushes-arbitration-of-dispute-with-china-before-un-envoys