Philippines to Challenge China"s Maritime Claims at UN Tribunal

The Philippines plans to challenge
China’s maritime claims before a United Nations-endorsed
tribunal, a move that may raise tensions as the two nations vie
for oil, gas and fish resources in contested waters.

“The Philippines has exhausted almost all political and
diplomatic avenues for a peaceful negotiated settlement of its
maritime dispute with China,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario told reporters in Manila yesterday. “To this day, a
solution is elusive. We hope the arbitral proceedings shall
bring this dispute to a durable solution.”

The Philippines is challenging China’s “nine-dash” map of
the sea, first published in 1947, that extends hundreds of miles
south from China’s Hainan Island to the equatorial waters off
the coast of Borneo. China claims “indisputable sovereignty”
over more than 100 small islands, atolls and reefs that form the
Paracel and Spratly Islands.

China’s assertiveness in disputed waters has raised
tensions throughout Asia and generated concern among U.S.
officials over access to the South China Sea, where its navy has
patrolled since World War II. Vietnam and the Philippines reject
China’s map of the waters as a basis for joint development of
oil and gas.

‘Smacks of Desperation’

“This move from the Philippines smacks of desperation and
is likely to achieve little apart from highlighting its dispute
on the international stage but alienating China even more,”
said Gary Li, head of marine and aviation forecasting at
Exclusive Analysis Ltd., recently acquired by Englewood,
Colorado-based IHS Inc. (IHS) “Militarily it is weak, and in terms of
alliances it has not been able to secure the firm backing of the
U.S. as much as Washington’s other allies.”

Chinese and Philippine vessels squared off early last year
over the Scarborough Shoal, a disputed land feature in the
waters claimed by both countries. The U.S. has been vague about
whether a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines covers the
islands, whereas it has repeatedly said the East China Sea
islands called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese fall
under its security treaty with Japan.

The Philippines can seek arbitration with China under the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea if it does not
involve disputes relating to military activities, historic bays
or provisions on delimiting maritime boundaries, according to
Robert C. Beckman, director of the Center for International Law
at the National University of Singapore.

Sovereignty Claims

The UN convention “has no provisions on the sovereignty
claims to the islands,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Therefore, the
ruling of the tribunal would have no affect on the sovereignty
claims.”

China has opposed any efforts to settle territorial
disputes outside of one-on-one negotiations with fellow
claimants. A paper posted on the website of the Chinese embassy
in Manila rejects the jurisdiction of arbitral tribunals to
resolve the territorial dispute.

“The Philippines claimed that it will defeat China with
international law,” wrote Wu Hui, a professor at the University
of International Relations in Beijing, in the paper on the
embassy’s website dated May 22. “Yet it should be aware that
the law opposes not only the strong countries bullying the weak,
but also the small ones cheating.”

China bases its claims in the South China Sea on “abundant
historical and legal evidence.” The U.S. and neighboring
countries have called on it to clarify the claims according to
UNCLOS, which allows countries to claim a continental shelf and
200-mile exclusive economic zone.

‘Stand United’

The Philippines and Vietnam have sought to explore and
develop offshore areas that are also claimed by China, leading
to clashes in which Chinese ships have moved against survey
vessels. Last year, China National Offshore Oil Corp., the
government-owned parent of Cnooc Ltd. (883), invited foreign oil and
gas producers to develop disputed areas off Vietnam that Hanoi’s
leaders had already awarded to companies including Exxon Mobil
Corp. (XOM) and OAO Gazprom. (GAZP)

The Philippines is open to joint development with China
only in accordance with Philippine law, the Foreign Affairs
Department said in a statement Jan. 21.

The South China Sea is estimated to have as much as 30
billion metric tons of oil and 16 trillion cubic meters of gas,
which would account for about one-third of China’s oil and gas
resources, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency. It
also contains fishing resources.

“All Filipinos should stand behind the president to defend
what is ours,” the Foreign Affairs Department said in the
statement. “We should all firmly demonstrate our patriotism. We
should all stand united as one before the whole world to
manifest the president’s global leadership on this issue.”

To contact the reporters on this story:
Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at
dtenkate@bloomberg.net;
Joel Guinto in Manila at
jguinto1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Peter Hirschberg at
phirschberg@bloomberg.net

Philippines to Challenge China"s Maritime Claims at UN Tribunal