China’s nine-dash line claim is invalid without convincing explanation.
This was stressed by maritime and legal luminaries gathered in Danang City, Vietnam, for an international conference to examine historical evidence of territorial sovereignty over the contested Paracel and Spratly Islands.
Over in Japan, President Aquino and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are expected to link arms to boost maritime cooperation amid a simmering territorial dispute with China when they meet today.
‘GROUNDLESS CLAIM’
Retired French General Daniel Schaeffer said China was able to defy international law over the past years by maintaining its “groundless claim” over the disputed region and infringing upon the sovereignty of the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia – all claimants to parts of South China Sea.
The former French military attaché to China, Thailand, and Vietnam noted that the “nine-dash line” argument is no longer just a matter of particular concern of these countries in the region, but is of utmost concern to the international community. Therefore, he said an international consensus should be reached to ask China to abolish its claim.
And since the Chinese government has failed to present any credible evidence that proves its sovereignty over the South China Sea, pioneering legal scholar and Asian expert Jerome Cohen recommended that like the Philippines, Vietnam should file a case against China before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) supported by the argument that the nine-dash line runs counter to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
USE LEGAL MEANS
Cohen, who is currently a professor of law at New York University School of Law and serves as “counsel” at the international law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, said Vietnam should use all legal means available to demonstrate to the world that justice is on their side by either uniting with the Philippines or it can unilaterally sue China in an international arbitration court in accordance with the 1982 UNCLOS, to which China is a signatory.
The Philippines filed on January 22, 2013 a case against China before the UN-backed Tribunal to settle once and for all their long-standing sovereign dispute over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
China, however, rejected the Notification and Statement of Claim of the Philippine government to initiate arbitral proceedings against its nine-dash-line claim in the West Philippine Sea.
Internationally acclaimed expert on the law of the sea Professor Eric Franckx emphasized the importance of the UNCLOS which was signed by many countries, including China that agreed to settle sea disputes through the convention.
Franckx, who convenes and teaches Law of International Organizations and International Law of the Sea at the Brussels School of International Studies, said UNCLOS takes priority and governs the settlement of sea disputes this means Vietnam can unilaterally bring China in an international court.
On the other hand, University of New South Wales in Australia Professor Carlyle A. Thayer suggested that Vietnam submit a proposal to the UN Security Council seeking for a debate on China’s illegal oil rig placement in the South China Sea and its impact on regional security.
Thayer, who is a Southeast Asia regional specialist with special expertise on Vietnam, said that
TEST CASE
China, as a world power, may use its veto power to reject any UNSC resolution. However, at least the international community will better understand Vietnam’s goodwill and China’s actions, asking China to withdraw its platform from Vietnam’s waters.
The international scholars who attended the Danang conference even affirmed that it is unacceptable if any party to the South China Sea disputes uses force to change the status quo, destabilize the region and violate sovereignty of another nation, in its attempt to take control of the disputed region.
The conference, which brought together nearly 100 Vietnamese and foreign scholars, was held to garner additional support for Vietnam’s struggle for justice, after China unilaterally positioned its floating drilling rig Haiyang Shihyou-981 deep inside Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in early May.
10 PATROL BOATS FOR PH
Meanwhile, President Aquino is scheduled to visit Japan today to boost the country’s defense and economic cooperation with its strategic partner. His visit includes a meeting with Abe Tuesday noon.
Japan has committed to provide 10 patrol vessels to the Philippines in an effort to reinforce its capability to protect and guard its territorial waters, Gilberto Asuque, Chargé d’ Affaires of the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo.
The first three sea vessels will be delivered to the Philippines next year while the remaining seven will arrive in early 2016, Asuque said.
“Japan supports the Philippine policy to raise our capacity in level of awareness for maritime domain, capacity to monitor. For that purpose, the Japanese government has supported the Philippine government in terms of assistance to provide the Philippine Coast Guard with 10 patrol crafts,” Asuque said in a media interview here.
Asuque said the multi-role response vessel aims to enhance the capability of the Philippine Coast Guard “to monitor the maritime domain, exclusive economic zone and effectively enforce Philippine laws within that maritime zone.”
The delivery of the patrol boats comes amid the country’s lingering spat with China over overlapping territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea.
In addition to the patrol crafts, Asuque said Japan will also provide assistance to improve the Philippine coast guard’s telecommunication system.
“You may have the platform or the vessels but you need the communications system in order to ensure that the vessel is able to communicate with the command and control office and the Coast Guard,” he said.
http://www.mb.com.ph/intl-maritime-experts-downplay-chinas-nine-dash-line-claim/
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