Toward a sea of peace, stability and prosperity

ROUNDTA B L E D I S C U S S I O N S O N SOUTH CHINA SEA

IDISCUSS the status of our bilateral relations with China from the point of view of people-to-people relations.

The Duterte administration has adopted a two-track policy of separating the discussion of sensitive issues from economic and other issues.

- cial relations with China have improved.

President Rodrigo Duterte has received high approval ratings from every polling survey, but his China policy has not received the support of the Filipino people.

Filipinos still recall that China occupied Mischief ( Panganiban) Reef after the Senate had expelled the US bases from Clark and Subic.

Many other recent actions of China have cast doubt on its intentions.

The Asean summits have expressed concern about China’s land reclamation activities and have stressed the importance of non-militarization.

visit, President Duterte announced that it was time for him to raise the issue of the arbitral award. He did so at a face- to- face meeting with President Xi Jinping, saying that the into alignment with its provisions.

The Philippines aligned its laws by passing Republic Act 9522, which abandoned the claim to historic rights to waters within the Treaty of Paris.

Compliance is both necessary and desirable because the Unclos was negotiated to serve as a constitution establishing a legal order for the sea.

It is to be noted that the Unclos created a system of maritime zones, which covers every area of sea or seabed in the globe.

The Unclos, therefore, provides limits to the entitlement that states may have to the different maritime zones.

Any claim which exceeds the limits permitted by Unclos would impact on the high seas or the common heritage of mankind, or encroach on the EEZ of another State.

Every party to the Unclos treaty has a substantial interest in the harmonization of national laws with the convention.

The compliance with the limits to maritime zones agreed upon in Unclos would remove a source of tension and instability in the South China Sea.

Filipinos want to be good maritime neighbors, especially because the South China Sea is a semi-enclosed sea demanding cooperation in the preservation of the marine environment to assure food security for the region.

Filipinos are concerned particular