PHL hails US government study denigrating China’s massive South China Sea claim

From the Philippine News Agency (Dec 15): PHL hails US government study denigrating China’s massive South China Sea claim

The Philippine government on Monday welcomed the publication by the U.S. government of a study denigrating China’s massive claim in the resource-rich territories.

In the study by the US State Department, called China’s Maritime Claims in the South China Sea (SCS), it concluded that Beijing’s nine-dash-line “does not accord with the international law of the sea.”

Washington’s findings add an important voice to Manila’s position that China’s claims are baseless and violates international law.

“The study’s factual account and analyses support the Philippines position on the need for peaceful clarification of maritime entitlements in the South China Sea, which the Philippines is seeking through third-party arbitration under United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” a DFA statement said. UNCLOS – a 1982 accord signed by the Philippines, China and more than 100 other states, gives maritime nations the right to develop, explore and exploit areas within its designated exclusive economic zone or EEZ.

Defying China’s opposition, Manila has filed an arbitration against Beijing before a Netherlands-based tribunal to try to declare as illegal its nine-dash claim – a tongue-shaped encirclement that covers almost the entire South China Sea, including areas that are within Philippine territory or EEZ.

“The Philippines continues to advocate for a peaceful and rules-based settlement of disputes in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law,” the DFA said.

Studies such as the one produced by US Department of State, the DFA noted, “contribute to the substantive literature that supports the primacy and utility of the UNCLOS for the determination of maritime entitlements, and the peaceful settlement of maritime disputes.”

China insists indisputable and historical ownership to almost 90 percent of the sea, where huge gas, oil and mineral deposits have been discovered in several areas. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also claim the South China Sea in parts or in whole.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=716407