The ongoing standoff between the Philippines and China raises troubling questions about the response to Chinese territorial assertiveness in the South China Sea.
The ongoing naval standoff between China and the Philippines at Scarborough Shoal clearly indicates the difficulties in constraining Beijing from unilaterally asserting its “indisputable sovereignty” over all of the islands, rocks, and adjacent waters in the South China Sea. The reality is that China’s actions in prolonging the standoff are a portent of the difficulties that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will face in trying to constrain China by negotiating a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.
The current standoff began early last month, when the Philippines dispatched the naval frigate BRP Gregorio del Pilar to investigate an earlier sighting of several Chinese fishing boats in the lagoon at Scarborough Shoal. An armed boarding party from the frigate discovered that one of the fishing boats contained large amounts of giant clams, coral, and live sharks that appeared to have been illegally harvested from waters lying within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
Two unarmed China Marine Surveillance (CMS) vessels interposed themselves between the fishermen and the frigate, thus precipitating the standoff. China and the Philippines proceeded to trade diplomatic protests over this incident. In an effort to diffuse tensions, the Philippines replaced the navy frigate with the Coast Guard cutter BRP Edsa
China, meanwhile, reinforced its presence by dispatching an armed Fishery Law Enforcement Command (FLEC) ship to relieve one of the CMS vessels. The Chinese fishing boats later slipped away with their catch. On April 20, China further reinforced its presence at Scarborough Shoal with the arrival of its most advanced FLEC ship, Yuzheng 310.
Both China and the Philippines claim sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal and argue that that it’s an integral part of their national territory. Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a rock is entitled to a 12 nautical mile territorial sea. The Philippines further claims that the waters surrounding Scarborough Shoal fall within its 200 nautical mile EEZ.
The Philippines has invited China to join it in submitting claims to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea for arbitration. This is an inappropriate forum, however, as the Tribunal can only decide matters of maritime jurisdiction, not questions of sovereignty which need to be solved first.
China’s claim to sovereignty rests on historic rights arising from prior discovery. The Philippines, on the other hand, bases its claims to sovereignty on intermittent occupation and continual administration since independence. This matter could be decided bilaterally by China and the Philippines or by an international court if both parties agree. Neither prospect seems likely given that the Philippines refuses to negotiate bilaterally and China refuses to place the matter before an international court.
The Philippines has thus turned to ASEAN and the United States for support. But the standoff over Scarborough Shoal has provoked a domestic outcry and made it abundantly clear that the Philippines holds misconceived expectations over the roles that ASEAN and the U.S. can play.
Photo Credit: U.S. Navy
View as Single Page
Reddit
Digg
StumbleUpon
Delicious
Technorati
Yahoo
Google
Plurk
Jojo Rendon
A peaceful living is what I dreamt of for my love ones, friends and fellow citizen; for sure this is what others wanted too. I pray for the mutual understanding and the claim should be ended peacefully and documented, so no conflict will arise in the future. Let both government speak for it duly witness by the UN and the ICC. How nice to feel living no enemy, no threats and no fears.
Ric
Funny how China keeps insisting on "bilateral negotiations." It's obvious that China has no idea what the word "negotiation" even means. "Negotiation" implies that both parties must be willing to settle for something less than what they originally wanted. Not so for the Chinese, their idea of "negotiation" is repeating the same absurd claim to the entire South China Sea again and again. Are they hoping that it'll sound less absurd the more they repeat it? And then while "negotiating", sneakily occupying islands while nobody's looking.
The Chinese are fundamentally incapable of "negotiating" when all they care about is what they want. We've tried "negotiating" with them for decades. Now we'll do it our way.
Vahn
have hope, Storm season is coming, that area will be untouchable from china until January next year, its an area where tropical storms from the pacific pass through
Ling Nam
Then in that case should the Philippines be deporting millions Chinese, their children and grandchildren who bribe their way into the Philippines to run from poverty and communist pirates back to China. Where is this going to end?
Bob the Builder
We can trade in all Philippine should go home from Hong Kong and Will all chinese and Chinese mixes go home from South East Asia,, Singapore, Philippine, Malaysia, Burma, Thailand and Indonesia…
brearbear
i am Canadian.
i say this. PLEASE HEAR THIS! EDITORS PLEASE PRINT THIS!
1. Dear China…
Being HUMBLE..SHARING…CARING…And FORGIVING NEEDS TO BE THE SLOGAN OF THE FUTURE!Please only be defensive.
I NEVER EVER WANT TO SEE CHINA BE TAKEN OVER LIKE WHAT HAPPENED IN WW2! GET TOUGH…AND FOREVER…STAY TOUGH!
BUT… KEEP HUMBLE! AND HELP THE REST OF THIS AWESOME, DIVERSE, INCREDIBLE, AMAZING, AND WONDERFUL PLANET!
Following International Law. HELP OTHERS! WE ALL NEED TO WORK TOGETHER! AS ONE!
2. Please become an ECOLOGICAL-GREEN-EARTH FRIENDLY SUPER POWER!
Spend your wealth AND ENERGIES on protecting the Planet!
3. Please China…somehow PLEASE!…share the wealth of Asias Fragile SEAS.
First protect it.
IT IS EXTREMELY FRAGILE…
AND IS OF EXTREME IMPORTANCE TO NOT JUST YOUR COUNTRY’S FUTURE…BUT TO ALL ASIAN PACIFIC RIM COUNTRIES THAT SHARE THAT great sea! AND TO ALL OF US ON THIS EARTH!
I DO NOT WANT…AND I FEAR OIL SPILLS… ETC.. HITTING THE SEAS… LET ALONE A WORLD WAR!
WE ALL HAVE FUCHISHIMA HITTING US ALL HARD!
Second …share the wealth equally so all nations may prosper!
WHY IS THAT SO HARD TO SHARE????????????????????????????
…Spend your energies on making the World a better place….for future generations!
please stop sabre rattling. the same goes for you “Western” powers!
we ALL share this small fragile Planet. And it is getting polluted.
MAY WE ALL WORK TOGETHER TO ENSURE A HEALTHY PEACEFUL FUTURE, AND MAY WE ALL, TOGETHER AS ONE…GET OUR $#%# TOGETHER…AND GET EXPLORING THIS INCREDIBLE UNIVERSE WE HAVE BEFORE US!
I DARE YOU “EDITORS’ TO LET ME HAVE MY “FREE SPEECH” AND PRINT THIS..
THANK YOU ALL IN PEACE!
BREAR BEAR
ceasar
Great piece. However China (the government) doesn’t care. It doesn’t even care for the welfare of their people. What else of the rest?
jack
China's government cares more for the welfare of its' citizens than many govt. in SEAsia.
300 million people were lifted out of poverty.Their lives are getting better.Can you say the same
for Philippines or India.The vast majority live on $1-2 dollars a day.Do you see light at the end
of the tunnel for these disenfranchsed majority?Look at the transparency index of these countries
.They are way down at the bottom of the totem pole.Where is the rule of law, a pillar of democracy?
You tell me.
Cyrus
Since Spain came it has been called Masinloc and has appeared in Spanish Maps. This was already known before Spanish Times sadly we don not have any hard evidence as Filipino’s have no written records during that time.
Vic
This is false history. The Spanish never went down side, so there is no mapping there. The Spaniards were only interested in the Acapulco-Manila trade to link up with the China trade. Mindanao is Muslim land, the Spaniards did not have to tangle with the Muslims and try to convert them to Christianity.
Errol T
Actually, the Spanish governor-general has lots of motivation to map out Spain's holdings, and in this case, the Philippines. Don't forget that during the centuries, Spain was in competition with the English, who held Singapore and Malaysia, and the Dutch, who held Indonesia. In fact, Manila was briefly occupied by the English as an extension of Spain's war with England back in Europe. To say that the Spanish cartographers didn't do their job would be saying they aren't the imperialists they used to be.