SOUTH CHINA SEA ROW | PH too cozy with China, risks losing hard-won gains: ex-DFA chief

From InterAksyon (Dec 19): SOUTH CHINA SEA ROW | PH too cozy with China, risks losing hard-won gains: ex-DFA chief



Former foreign affairs secretary Albert del Rosario. DFA file photograph

Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario on Monday sternly reacted to pronouncements by the current administration over the Philippines' disposition in the South China Sea spat with China.

Del Rosario warned that three recent positions taken by the government, based on pronouncements by President Rodrigo Duterte, could set back hard-won gains by the Philippines in batting for a rules-based solution in order to safeguard its maritime rights, especially given recent reports of China's moves to militarize several of the disputed islands.

Del Rosario noted three key pronouncements by Duterte, followed up by DFA Secretary Perfecto Yasay:

(1) The government will not protest China's latest blatant violations of international law by its deployment of missile systems in the South China Sea;

(2) The government will set aside the arbitral ruling; and

(3) The government will prepare to unwind our VFA agreement with the U.S

Del Rosario said such utterances are "most sadly being made after we had taken a firm rules-based position to defend what is ours – and won. Now, we seem to be on a track to relinquish those gains that have been made to benefit our people."

It took the Aquino Administration three years to get its complaint against Beijing's encroachments in the South China Sea processed for admission, heard, and deliberated by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague before the July 12, 2016 ruling was finally handed down in favor of Philippine entitlements under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Yasay apparently sought to apply damage control on Monday by clarifying that the government was simply working hard on building confidence in its relations with China, in order to make bilateral discussions easier somewhere down the road where, in Manila's view, the UN ruling would be a very helpful guide.

See also:
PH asserting rights under UNCLOS; no plan to set aside July 12 ruling on SCS - Yasay

But, Del Rosario said in his rejoinder: "We appear to be well on the way to placing the country’s future in the hands of our northern neighbor who – even as our government had fostered closer relations between our two countries – is now effectively demeaning our stand for upholding the rule of law by its continuing and clear violations of UNCLOS to our detriment."

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The Del Rosario statement, sent to news outlets, follows:

Our government has declared in short order that

(1) It will not protest China's latest blatant violations of international law by its deployment of missile systems in the South China Sea;

(2) It will set aside the arbitral ruling; and

(3) It will prepare to unwind our VFA agreement with the U.S.

"The foregoing declarations are most sadly being made after we had taken a firm rules-based position to defend what is ours – and won. Now, we seem to be on a track to relinquish those gains that have been made to benefit our people."

"We appear to be well on the way to placing the country’s future in the hands of our northern neighbor who – even as our government had fostered closer relations between our two countries – is now effectively demeaning our stand for upholding the rule of law by its continuing and clear violations of UNCLOS to our detriment."

"Mutual respect for the rule of law, we now know, is not possible."

"Before it is too late, we have no other option but to posture ourselves strongly with responsible nations to continue to uphold international law lest we find ourselves in that undesirable place where we will be left twisting in the wind."
http://interaksyon.com/article/135409/south-china-sea-row--ph-too-cozy-with-china-risks-losing-hard-won-gains-ex-dfa-chief