US Ambassador Philip Goldberg (AFP file)
US Ambassador Philip Goldberg backed the Philippines’ protest over Chinese reclamation in disputed South China Sea territory while twitting China’s new “10-dash” map, saying it had no basis in international law.
The Philippines says the reefs where China has been undertaking reclamation are within its exclusive economic zone.
The US envoy said the creation of artificial islands is not covered by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and that attempts by a country to infringe on another’s lawful use of the seas should be raised as a concern.
"We think that there should be a code of conduct to further that, and perhaps make it mandatory, as opposed to just a document that people agreed to observe, but make it a document that will have some teeth," the envoy told the Philippine Constitution Association in Makati City late Thursday.
"Obviously, artificial creations are not part of that, so I think you can take it from there, and UNCLOS speaks about artificial creations not being the kind of features that would be covered," he added.
On the 10-dash map, Goldberg said: "The basic principle remains the same on the nine-dash line which is that it's not basis in international law to decide these issues, that it is something that the Chinese have articulated as a historical reason on their side, but we don’t see that as that basis."
Goldberg said the Philippine government is right to seek a resolution issues through diplomatic means and lodging protests before the appropriate tribunal, in this case the United Nations.
"We may have historical arguments for many things but we believe that the way forward of settling this issue are through tribunals, code of conduct, observance of declarations of conduct, negotiations directly with parties, not through intimidation but legitimate kinds of discussions like Philippines and Indonesia's agreement on economic zones. It can be done," he said.
The Philippines has filed several protests in recent years over China's growing military and civilian presence in the disputed waters, which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea.
This month, the country lodged a new protest over China's reclamation on McKennan (Hughes) Reef in the Spratly Islands.
“China’s end game is to have de facto -- if not de jure -- control over adjacent waters, the Western Pacific,” said Richard Javad Heydarian, a political science lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University, in an interview with Bloomberg.
“The only question is if and how it will achieve it. China might need to consider more coercive measures to do so given the hardening resistance of other claimant states,” he added.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/90004/us-backs-ph-protest-over-chinese-reclamation-twits-10-dash-line
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