By Pia Lee-Brago
MANILA, Philippines – The year 2016 saw the Philippines scoring an international legal victory against China in the West Philippine Sea dispute, but straining ties with the United States, the European Union and the United Nations because of the bloody war on drugs of the new administration.
Since 2012, China has been aggressively claiming islands and shoals in the South China Sea, even those within Philippine territory. Beijing’s basis for its expansive and excessive claims is its historic rights to a nine-dash line in the disputed sea.
But in a landmark ruling on July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague found no legal basis for China’s nine-dash line. The PCA ruled that China had breached the sovereign rights of the Philippines.
The PCA also ruled that many purported islands controlled by China are not in islands but reefs or rocks, which do not generate territorial rights.
China has refused to honor the ruling. Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin even accused the judges of taking bribes from the Philippines in exchange for a favorable ruling.
It was the previous Aquino administration that filed a case against China’s excessive claims in the South China Sea.
The PCA released its ruling during the Duterte administration, which put the landmark ruling on the back burner to improve Philippines-China relations.
Former foreign affairs secretary Albert del Rosario, the top diplomat of the Aquino administration and the brain trust in taking China to court, slammed the Duterte administration for declaring that it would set aside the PCA ruling and for not protesting China’s deployment of missile systems in the South China Sea.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also questioned why the Duterte administration is not enforcing the PCA ruling. She said she was surprised by Duterte’s decision not to allow the Philippines to join the joint patrols in the South China Sea and not to traverse the territory the PCA found within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. said the Philippines would not stop China from building military structures on disputed islands in the South China Sea because countries can separately deal with China regarding the presence of military weapons on the structures they built in the South China Sea.
Beijing expressed willingness to enhance pragmatic cooperation across the board and achieve mutually beneficial and win-win results.
Read the full story at The Philippine Star