Philippines must speak out openly on South China Sea arbitral ruling – US defense official

WASHINGTON — A senior US defense official said the Philippines must continue to speak out openly on the arbitral tribunal ruling that invalidated China’s excessive maritime claims in the South China Sea and to utilize “all diplomatic means available” to assert its rights in the resource-rich waters.

Philippine diplomats, the official said, should publicly remind the international community of China’s unlawful claims and to stress that its assertions have no basis under international law.

“It is important for Philippine diplomats just as American diplomats and diplomats in all countries to speak out openly to say that there is an international legal ruling that has validated many of the claims that Manila is making and what entitlements it has in the South China Sea,” the defense official, who asked not to be named, told visiting Filipino journalists in an interview at the Pentagon. 

The arbitration decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration declared China's historic claim over nearly the entire waters as illegal under a 1982 United Nations convention. China, however, ignored the decision, calling it "ill-founded" and "naturally null and void."

Although any ruling by the arbitral tribunal is legally binding, the The Hague-based court has no enforcement power.

The decision remains in a legal limbo six years after the arbitration ruling was handed down because neither the Philippines nor China have taken steps, required under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to immediately implement the ruling.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared that he will not allow the country’s rights to be trampled upon and pledged to uphold the ruling.

Marcos’ predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, pursued a policy of appeasing China, in exchange for huge economic benefits.

The Pentagon official said Philippine diplomats should utilize international multilateral and bilateral mechanisms to highlight the ruling and reiterated America’s commitment to do the same to fight efforts to undermine it.   

“It is important through all diplomatic means available that whether that is bilateral meetings, unilateral statements in international settings like the United Nations for the Philippines, for the United States, for all like-minded countries to emphasize the fact that there is an international legal body that has spoken regarding the validity of the nine-dash line as well as what the Philippines is entitled to under international law,” the official said.

Beijing's so-called nine-dash line is a U-shaped map that covers a huge swathe of the South China Sea.

A vital trading and shipping lane, the South China Sea, dotted with rocks, shoals and reefs where rich oil and mineral deposits were found, are claimed in part or in whole by the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.

China’s vast territorial claims in the waters have sparked tensions and violent confrontations with smaller claimants, like the Philippines and Vietnam.

“Our message needs to be clear which is - whether it is the 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling, whether it is the UN Law of the Sea, there are very clear principles, rules, entitlements that are set out in international law and all countries have an obligation to actually abide by those,” the Pentagon official said.—AOL, GMA News