Time for Manila to end farce of arbitration on South China Sea—Xinhua

From the Daily Tribune (Jul 18): Time for Manila to end farce of arbitration on South China Sea—Xinhua

A Xinhua commentary said that Manila’s attempt to seek international arbitration over its territorial spats with China in the South China Sea is futile and doomed to fail as the case itself is untenable.

The Philippines filed an arbitration case at The Hague in early 2013 and the hearing on jurisdiction and admissibility was concluded on Monday.

However, the unilateral move employed by Manila as a clumsy tactic to encroach on the Chinese territory in the South China Sea, is no more than a pipe dream.

It is obvious that Manila has pinned its hope on the international and multilateral forces to woo sympathy for its groundless claim over the South China Sea.

While the stock-in-trade of the country is to portray itself as a victim and put pressure on China by hyping up the dispute at the international tribunal. This time, the Philippines sent a 35-man entourage to The Hague with only three of them needed to argue the case. Without any dissimulation, the authorities said that the huge delegation was a “show of force” to “impress the arbiters” that the nation is united behind the country’s case against China.

However, although they sent more people to The Hague in an attempt to sway the arbiters, Manila’s efforts will fail to produce any results as they expected.

As a matter of fact, China is the real victim of the South China Sea disputes as the Philippines has illegally occupied Chinese territories there since the 1970s. In order to safeguard regional peace and stability, China has remained highly restrained.

Regarding the territorial sovereignty, China has abundant historical and legal evidence to prove them, while its maritime rights to the waters enclosed within the nine-dash lines in the South China Sea are also upheld by history.

As for the arbitration, the essence of the subject-matter of the case is the territorial sovereignty over several maritime features in the South China Sea, which is beyond the scope of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea under which Manila initiated the arbitration.

Besides, any arbitration must be based on the principle of consent. In bilateral disputes, if one party does not accept or participate in the arbitration, the other party shall not institute the arbitration against its will.

China has reiterated that it will neither accept nor participate in the arbitration, and elaborates at length on the legal basis for its position that the arbitral tribunal does not have jurisdiction over this case.

Manila’s unilateral move will not help solve the disputes. Instead, it will poison its relationship with China.

Meanwhile, hyping the arbitration and spending big money on lobbying foreign arbiters will also stir domestic criticism back home.

Thus, it is time for the Philippines to stop the farce of arbitration on the South China Sea issue and return as soon as possible to the right track of bilateral talks for a final solution acceptable to both countries.

At the same itme, the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration has vowed to hand down a decision on whether it will assume jurisdiction on the Philippines’ case against China in the West Philippine Sea “as soon as possible,” saying a ruling is expected before the year ends.

In a statement on Monday, the tribunal said it has already entered the deliberations phase upon the conclusion of the oral arguments from July 7 to 13 in The Hague, which was attended by a powerhouse Philippine government delegation, backed by its international lawyers and maritime law experts.

The tribunal “is conscious of its duty under the Rules of Procedure to conduct proceedings to avoid unnecessary delay and expense and to provide a fair and efficient process,” the statement said.

Should the court decide that it has jurisdiction over the case, it will then move on to the next phase, which is the hearing on the legal merits of the Philippines’ complaint.

Manila is asking the court to nullify China’s far-reaching claims in the waters, known internationally as the South China Sea, saying such assertion encroaches on Philippine sovereignty and rights under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLoS).

The court also asked the Philippines to submit “further written responses” until July 23 to questions raised by the five-member arbitration body.

China, which did not participate in the hearings, was also given an opportunity to comment in writing until Aug. 17, 2015 regarding the oral arguments.

A transcript of the entire proceedings was provided by the court to China to ensure transparency, even as it has declared several times that it does not accept Manila’s case.

“Before making its award, the arbitral tribunal must satisfy itself not only that it has jurisdiction over the dispute but also that the claim is well founded in fact and in law,” the PCA said.

In line with its duty under Article 5 of Annex VII to the UNCLoS, the court said it must “assure each party a full opportunity to be heard and to present its case.”

The Philippines brought its maritime disputes with China before international arbitration in January 2013 following a dangerous maritime standoff in the Scarborough Shoal, which lies 124 nautical miles from the Philippine province of Masinloc, Zambales and 472 nautical miles from China’s nearest land mass of Hainan province.

China, which objects to any third-party intervention on the sea disputes, said it will not recognize any decision that will arise from the Philippine case.

Scarborough, seized by China after the standoff in 2012, is known in the Philippines as Panatag or Bajo de Masinloc, but called Huangyan Island by the Chinese.

In April 2012, Manila and Beijing were locked in a standoff when Chinese vessels prevented Philippine authorities from arresting Chinese fishermen poaching in the shoal, situated well within the Philippine 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone as allowed by the UN treaty.

Even before the standoff, the Philippines has repeatedly accused China of intruding into its territorial waters, disrupting its oil exploration and harassing its fishermen.

Beijing also moved to cement its claim in the sea by rapidly reclaiming seven formerly submerged and contested reefs into man-made islands, defying protests from other claimants and countries like United States, Japan and those from the European Union.

China insists ownership of almost 90 percent of the South China Sea, including areas that overlap with the Philippines’ and other Asian nations’ territories.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims to the waters– a major trading route teeming with rich marine life and vast oil and mineral deposits.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/time-for-manila-to-end-farce-of-arbitration-on-south-china-sea-xinhua