The Philippines has appealed to an international tribunal to declare China’s claims to most of the South China Sea illegal, warning the integrity of the UN’s maritime laws is at stake.
In opening comments to the tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, on Tuesday, Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario said that Manila had sought judicial intervention because China’s behavior had become increasingly “aggressive” and negotiations had proved futile.
Del Rosario said the UN’s Convention on the Law of the Sea, which the Philippines and China have both ratified, should be used to resolve their bitter territorial dispute.
“The case before you is of the utmost importance to the Philippines, to the region, and to the world,” Del Rosario told the tribunal. “In our view, it is also of utmost significance to the integrity of the convention, and to the very fabric of the legal order of the seas and oceans.”
China insists it has sovereign rights to nearly all of the South China Sea, a strategically vital waterway with shipping lanes through which about one-third of all the world’s traded oil passes.
Its claim, based on ancient Chinese maps, reaches close to the coasts of its southern neighbors.
Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei also have claims to parts of the sea, which have for decades made it a potential military flashpoint.
Tensions have risen sharply in recent years as a rising China has sought to stake its claims more assertively.
Following a stand-off between Chinese ships and the Philippine navy in 2012, China took control of a rich fishing ground called Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) that is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
China has also undertaken giant reclamation activities that have raised fears it plans to use artificial islands to build new military outposts close to the Philippines and other claimants.
China has rejected all criticism over its actions, saying it has undisputed sovereign rights to the sea.
However, Del Rosario told the tribunal that China’s argument of claiming the sea based on “historic rights” was without foundation.
“The so-called ‘nine-dash line’ [based on an old map used by China] has no basis whatsoever under international law,” he said.
The Philippines submitted its case to the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, a 117-state body that rules on disputes between nations, in early 2013.
Del Rosario’s comments, made in closed-door proceedings, but released yesterday by his office in Manila, were part of the Philippines’ opening oral arguments.
China has refused to participate in the proceedings and said it would not abide by any ruling, even though it is has ratified the UN’s Convention on the Law of the Sea.
However, the Philippines hopes a ruling in its favor would pressure China into making concessions.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique