Invoke International Law

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

With China refusing to budge and even choosing to escalate the situation with deliberate and provocative actions in its efforts to prevent Filipinos from approaching the disputed areas, even if they fall under the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone, the Philippines has been left with no choice but to submit a 4,000-page written argument to the United Nations arbitral tribunal hearing its case against China for the latter’s excessive claims in the West Philippine Sea.

It is ironic that China’s reason for refusing to participate in the international arbitration that was initiated by the Philippines, and supported by the United Nations, the European Union and many other countries, is by saying that their claim has solid basis in international law. If that were really true, then would it  not be advantageous for Beijing to go toe-to-toe against Manila in the international arbitration process, and prove once and for all, that they can be a good and law-abiding neighbor,  instead of being the brash neighborhood bully of the South China Sea?

By submitting our claim to the international arbitration tribunal, the Philippines is taking the ultimate risk by putting our claim on the line and allowing the international community to settle the dispute,  once and for all. This is the way disputes should be settled, not by using water cannons on helpless fishermen, using naval blockades to prevent civilian ships from delivering supplies, or harassing anyone who happens to wander into an area that only they believe to be theirs. China’s refusal to participate in the process, even with a veritable army of legal experts and historians on the subject, speaks volumes of the illegitimacy of their claim.

While the Philippines will be testing the limits and relevance of international law by running to the United Nations arbitral tribunal to resolve this dispute, China continues to mock those same laws by using brute force and harassment to get what it wants, instead of participating in the process. As we implore the cooler heads in the Chinese government to stop the bullying, and become a responsible member of the international community by subjecting itself to the international tribunal in order to settle this matter, we support this course of action of the Philippine government, and pray that the United Nations can find a way to peacefully settle this problem whether or not China participates in the process.*