China lobbies hard ahead of PH’s sea arbitration case
HONG KONG/MANILA (Reuters) — China’s claims to the disputed South China Sea will come under international legal scrutiny for the first time this week, but while Beijing has officially refused to take part in the case filed by the Philippines at a UN tribunal, it has made its presence felt.
Indeed, Manila’s international legal team was heading to the Permanent Court of Arbitration
in The Hague to initially argue that the five-judge panel has jurisdiction to hear the case, Philippine Foreign Ministry officials told Reuters.
That is because of concerns China raised in a public position paper in December about the tribunal’s jurisdiction over the matter, according to court statements.
A little-noticed decision by the tribunal’s panel in April acknowledged China’s objections and announced that a hearing on jurisdiction from July 7 to July 13 would be held first.
Manila filed the case in 2013 to seek a ruling on its right to exploit the South China Sea waters in its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as allowed under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
While legally binding, any decision that favors the Philippines would be unenforceable because there is no UN body to police such rulings, legal experts said.
Nevertheless, such a ruling would be a diplomatic blow to Beijing and might prompt other claimants to the South China Sea to take similar action, legal experts and diplomats said.
The case is being closely watched by Asian governments and Washington given rising tensions in the South China Sea, especially in the Spratly archipelago, where China is creating seven artificial islands that will allow its navy to project power deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.
China claims most of the waterway, including many reefs and shoals that Manila considers are within its EEZ. Parts of the EEZ contain rich fishing grounds and energy deposits.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan also have claims to the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.
China taking part Some international legal scholars and South China Sea experts said China was effectively taking part in the case even though it had officially refused to do so.
“It appears the tribunal panel is bending over backwards to accommodate China’s interests and appear even-handed to both the Philippines and China,” said Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at Singapore’s Institute of South East Asian Studies.
Experts said that did not mean the judges would find in Beijing’s favor.
“They are being as fair as they can ... they seem to sense China will scrutinize every word in any final ruling,” said one legal scholar following the case.
When asked to comment, tribunal officials referred Reuters to statements on its website.
Without China’s permission, Manila cannot seek a ruling at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on the sovereignty of the disputed territory, legal scholars said.
Instead, Manila has invoked dispute settlement procedures under UNCLOS, a system that allows for arbitration even when one side objects and refuses to participate.
A different approach Prof. Richard Heydarian of the De La Salle University in Manila Political Science Department said the Philippines should modify the way it is handling its territorial dispute with China.
Heydarian, a foreign affairs and economic analyst, said Manila can still pursue formal dialogue with the Chinese government ahead of the first hearing to be conducted by the Arbitral Tribunal in the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
The Philippine government, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in particular, has repeatedly refused to enter into bilateral talks with China for fear that it may affect the arbitration case it filed.
“The default policy is to garner maximum international support and rely on an inherently uncertain legal maneuver against China,” Heydarian wrote in an article published by The Diplomat.
However, he said, the Philippines can pick up a few tactical lessons from Vietnam and Japan both of whom have been locked in a similar territorial standoff with Beijing. (With a report from Roy C. Mabasa)