PH to include more ancient maps in territory case vs China

From InterAksyon (Sep 11): PH to include more ancient maps in territory case vs China

The Philippines intends to submit more ancient maps to the United Nations arbitral tribunal to strengthen its case against China's so-called Nine-Dash-Line map, the Foreign Affairs chief said on Thursday.

China has been claiming about 90 percent or the whole West Philippine Sea citing its nine-dash-line of its ancient map. "If you look at the historical maps and the maps you've seen here, for instance, Scarborough Shoal is very much a part of the Philippines," Del Rosario stressed.

Scarborough Shoal is more than 500 nautical miles from China's Hainan Island.

In an interview, Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said that this office will hold several consultations to see if the Philippine side can add more evidence to the Memorial or the written argument that has been submitted on March 30, 2014.

"We are going to review and revisit what we have submitted and see if we have to submit some more," Del Rosario reiterated to journalists, adding that this would include more ancient maps that they may have missed before.

Del Rosario's move was prompted by Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio who presented 60 ancient maps that could prove to the Arbitral Tribunal that Scarborough Shoal never appeared in any ancient map cited by China.

Del Rosario disclosed that the marjority of the 60 maps have already been included in the memorial, but he gave instructions to his staff to review the body of evidence, revisit the Memorial and determine if there is more that can be added.

"According to our sources, we'll be able to get copies of these," said Del Rosario.

In case it will not be possible to ammend the Memorial, the other ancient maps can still be used during oral arguments after China submits its counter argument to the Arbitral Tribunal.

But, China refused to participate in the arbitration and said instead that bilateral negotiations will work better to resolve the dispute.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/95211/ph-to-include-more-ancient-maps-in-territory-case-vs-china