US sends Kenney to RP ahead of sea row ruling

From the Daily Tribune (Jul 11): US sends Kenney to RP ahead of sea row ruling

United States government pressure on the Duterte administration has been raised amid the impending ruling of the arbitral tribunal at The Hague on the South China Sia dispute set on July 12 as the US government sent former Ambassador Kristie Kenney, now a State Department Counselor, to meet with government officials a day after Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay issued a statement calling for talks and sharing of resources with China.

Yasay, however, backtracked yesterday, saying that he was misquoted by the Agence France Presse (AFP) regarding his call to China.   

The AFP reported Yasay saying that the Philippines is willing to share natural resources with Beijing in the contested South China Sea areas even if it wins a legal challenge next week, adding that the Duterte administration hoped to quickly begin direct talks with China.

“We can even have the objective of seeing how we can jointly explore this territory: how we can utilize and benefit mutually from the utilization of the resources in this exclusive economic zone where claims are overlapping,” AFP quoted Yasay as saying.

Yasay in a statement claimed his actual statement was that “we have to wait for the ruling and study and dissect its implications, it is possible that some time in the future, claimant countries might consider entering into arrangements such as joint exploration and utilization of resources in disputed areas.

The US State Department said in a statement that Kenney will be in Manila anytime before June 12 to meet with Philippine government officials, civil society, and “Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) innovators, entrepreneurs, and movers working to advance social-entrepreneurship, technology innovation, and the smart cities movement in the Philippines.”

“Kenney, a former US Ambassador to the Philippines, is the first high-level Washington official to meet with Duterte administration representatives since the June 30 inauguration of the new government, and her trip highlights the continuation of our close historic, cultural, and people-to-people ties with the Philippines,” the statement read.

Yasay said that his call for sharing of resources with China should be one “that do not prejudice the parties’ claims and delimitation of boundaries in accordance with UNCLoS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).”

Duterte, however, said earlier that he is willing to negotiate with China whatever is the outcome of the arbitration case.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) will rule on July 12 on the Philippines’ case against Beijing contesting their nine-dash line that overlaps with the country’s exclusive economic zones and comprises 90 percent of the South China Sea, an international route significant to world trade.

China had stated that it will not recognize the arbitration proceeding. “China’s position is not subject to change,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in his recent press conference.

“It can only be a delusion of relevant parties to impose the ruling on China through diplomatic pressurizing and negative publicity campaign. We advise them to give up such futile attempts,” he added.

Since the Permanent Court of Arbitration does not have any enforcement powers bilateral agreement might just be possible, “any overlapping claims awarded can be best implemented by negotiating,” Yasay had said.

According to an expert, although PCA does not have the enforcement capability, it can still be a tool for claimants to make a stand on the maritime rows without hurting China.

International Criminal Court justice and former dean of UP law Raul Pangalangan said the case is a huge advantage for the Philippines should it pursue bilateral negotiations with China.

“In a David versus Goliath scenario, the Philippines would have been helpless. By filing the case, we have shifted it from a two-party settlement and submitted it to a third-party decision-maker in the tribunal,” he said.

The arbitration “will provide our neighbors in Asia and our allies abroad a neutral ground upon which to take a position on the issue,” Pangalanan added.

Pangalanan said that through this arbitral ruling “without states saying ‘China is right’ or ‘Philippines is right,’ we provide even the erstwhile hesitant Asean states an opportunity to take a decision without riling China’s sensitivities.”

China may ‘denounce’ UNCLoS

China’s mouthpiece Global Times said denouncing UNCLOS is an option for China after the tribunal ruling.

“For many years, the People’s Republic of China has been a strong supporter of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLoS). Recently, however, China’s experience has been that the Convention and, in particular, its provisions on compulsory dispute settlement, may be exploited by other states for political reasons,” Global Times which voices policy pronouncements from Beijing said in an opinion piece.

“Knowing full well that disputes over territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation do not fall under the UNCLoS dispute settlement mechanisms, the Republic of the Philippines, in an act of legal warfare (‘lawfare’), nevertheless instituted arbitration proceedings against China before a UNCLoS Annex VII arbitral tribunal with regard to the disputes between the two countries in the South China Sea,” it added.

During the negotiations on the Convention in the 1970s, China raised concerns about the dispute settlement provisions, which it considered “inappropriate,” and argued that the provisions should not be included in the Convention itself.

China’s suggestion was that the provisions should form a separate protocol so that countries could decide for themselves whether or not to accept compulsory dispute settlement.

Beijing, meanwhile, has begun military drills in the South China Sea, state media reported ahead of a ruling by an international arbitration court on a dispute with the Philippines over the strategic waters.

The navy carried out “combat exercises” with “live missiles” between the Paracels and the southern Chinese island of Hainan, the PLA Daily, the military’s official newspaper, said on its website.

State television CCTV broadcast images of fighter aircraft and ships firing missiles, helicopters taking off and submarines surfacing.

“The drill focused on air control operations, sea battles and anti-submarine warfare”, said the PLA Daily, whose article was reposted on the defence ministry website.

The PLA Daily however insisted they were “routine exercises” and unrelated to the court’s ruling.

Duterte, who took office on June 30, has adopted a more conciliatory approach to China than Aquino.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/us-sends-kenney-to-rp-ahead-of-sea-row-ruling