Año: China's repeated claims over Scarborough Shoal has no legal basis

National Security Adviser Secretary Eduardo Año on Wednesday stressed that China's repeated claims over Scarborough Shoal have no basis in international law.

In a statement sent to GMA News Online, Año said under international law, the Philippines exercises sovereign rights and jurisdiction over Scarborough Shoal, also called Bajo de Masinloc, as well as the waters and continental shelf surrounding it. 

"China's repeated claims of sovereignty over Bajo de Masinloc has no basis in international law or in fact. International law is clear. China cannot, therefore, lawfully exercise sovereignty over it. As clearly stated by the 2016 arbitral award, UNCLOS superseded any ‘historic rights’ as claimed by China," he said, referring to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

"Therefore, China cannot claim entitlements in areas of the 'nine-dashed line,' now '10-dashed line,' that exceed UNCLOS limits," he added.

Año, former military chief, said that since the Philippines exercises sovereign rights over Bajo de Masinloc and its surrounding waters under international law, ''only the Philippines has the authority to exercise maritime law enforcement functions to the exclusion of other countries.''

''No amount of statements or illegal actions by other states can alter these facts,'' Año said.

Earlier, China claimed to have indisputable sovereignty over the Scarborough Shoal and its adjacent waters. 

The China Coast Guard spokesperson said four Philippine personnel illegally intruded in certain areas on January 28, and the Coast Guard warned them to leave in accordance with the law. 

The interaction was "professional and standardized,'' the CCG said. 

The NSA, however, maintained that in the early Spanish maps of the Philippines, including the 1734 Pedro Murillo Velarde Map, Bajo de Masinloc was always part of Philippine territory. 

When the Spaniards ceded the Philippines to the US under the 1898 Treaty of Paris, Scarborough Reef was included in the census of islands done by the US Government. 

Año said this was affirmed under the Treaty of Washington of 1900 where Spain ceded all other islands and places to which it had title or claim of title even if not within the lines drawn by the Treaty of Paris. —KBK/VAL GMA Integrated News