Philippines to Challenge China"s Sea Claims at UN Tribunal (Manila)

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MANILA, Philippines — 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 Tuesday. “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.

“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, Colo.-based IHS Inc. “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 United States 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.

The UN convention “has no provisions on the sovereignty claims to the islands,” he wrote in an email. “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.

Philippines to Challenge China"s Sea Claims at UN Tribunal (Manila)