PHL to see case vs China ‘to logical conclusion’

THE PHILIPPINES reiterated its resolve to “comply with the decision of an international tribunal” that will soon issue a ruling over its territorial dispute with China, Department of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Charles C. Jose said.

Manila “is determined to pursue the arbitration case to its logical conclusion and will respect and comply with the decision of the tribunal,” Mr. Jose said in a text message.

The announcement was made after Beijing offered to start negotiations on the West Philippine Sea row in exchange for ignoring the long-awaited ruling of an arbitration court scheduled next week.

China’s official English- language newspaper China Daily also on Monday reported that the proposed negotiation could cover “issues such as joint development and cooperation in scientific research if the new [Philippine] government puts the tribunal’s ruling aside before returning to the table for talks.”

China Daily did not name its source but described it as “close to the issues between the two countries.”

“Manila must put aside the result of the arbitration in a substantive approach,” the newspaper quoted one source as saying.

The Philippines brought the case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague and a ruling is expected on July 12. The case contests China’s claims to the bulk of the South China Sea, a body of water through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. China has said it plans to ignore the Court’s ruling which would represent a snub of the international legal order.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei have overlapping claims with China in the area. Beijing has rejected the arbitration case, claiming the court has no jurisdiction and saying it wants to solve the issue bilaterally. In recent weeks it has ramped up its propaganda campaign downplaying the outcome of the case.

China’s Foreign Ministry last month said the two countries had agreed in 1995 to settle disputes in the South China Sea “in a peaceful and friendly manner through consultations on the basis of equity and mutual respect.”

China and the Philippines have held many rounds of talks on the proper management of maritime disputes, though have had no negotiations designed to settle the actual disputes in the South China Sea, it said.

In the arbitration case, the Philippines is contesting China’s claim to an area shown on its maps as a nine- dash line stretching deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia, covering hundreds of disputed islands and reefs.

“Objectively, the tribunal has no jurisdiction over the dispute,” Sienho Yee, a law professor at the China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies at China’s Wuhan University, told Reuters in a government-arranged interview on Friday.

“Negotiation has been agreed upon as the way to resolve the dispute,” he said.