China’s reaction to PH protest: In a regular briefing in Beijing today, spokesman of China’s foreign ministry Hong Lei said: “China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and adjacent waters.”
“China owns sovereignty and jurisdiction over the related sea area, seabed and subsoil,” Hong pointed out.
By Tessa Jamandre
VERA FILES
The Philippines has lodged a diplomatic protest against China’s 9-dash line territorial claim over the whole of South China Sea, a month before President Aquino’s planned state visit to Beijing.
The Philippine protest, dated April 5, was posted by the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) as document No. 000228 on April 8.
But the Philippine government tarried in filing the protest, doing so two years after Vietnam and Malaysia, and a year after Indonesia. Vietnam and Malaysia filed their protest a day after China submitted its 9-dash line map to the UN on May 7, 2009. Indonesia registered its protest a year ago, even if it did not have a claim on the South China Sea.
The map is called “9-dash line” or “9-dotted line” because it shows a series of nine dashes or dotted lines forming a ring around the South China Sea area, which China claims is part of its territory. The area includes the Spratlys group, a cluster of oil-rich islands disputed by five other countries, including the Philippines.
China has been using the map with nine dashes in asserting its territorial claim over the whole of the South Sea. But the map first made its way to the UN body, when China used it to challenge the claim made by Vietnam and Malaysia over their extended continental shelves in the South China Sea.
The Vietnamese and Malaysian claims were made May 6, 2009; China filed a counter claim using the 9-dash map the next day, May 7. What followed was a series of quick exchanges where Vietnam and Malaysia responded to the Chinese protest.
But it would be three months, or August 4, 2009, before the Philippines protested the submissions made by Vietnam and Malaysia.
The Philippines’ April 5 2011 protest comes almost two years after its neighbors had raised the issue. The protest came in the form of a note verbale submitted through its Permanent Mission to the UN, the Philippines made three assertions related to the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), situated within the Spratlys.
First, the government said, the KIG constitutes an integral part of the Philippines and to which is has sovereignty and jurisdiction.
Secondly, the Philippines exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over the waters around or adjacent to each relevant geological feature in the KIG under the international law principle “the land dominates the sea,” as provided for under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Finally, the government said, China’s claim on “relevant waters, seabed and subsoil” related to the Kalayaan islands group has no basis under UNCLOS as that jurisdiction belongs to the Philippines.
The various claims as well as protests are now lodged with the CLCS, which will help mediate conflicting claims over territory and help set the limits of coastal states’ continental shelves.
The Philippine protest comes at a stressful time in its relations with China, which executed three Filipino drug convicts last March 30, despite a request for leniency from President Aquino.
Earlier, on March 3, the Philippines filed a diplomatic protest over Chinese incursion into Reed Bank, 250 kilometers west of Palawan, where an oil exploration is ongoing. Reed Bank is part of the KIG and is also being claimed by China and Vietnam.
The Spratlys are being claimed wholly or in part by Brunei, China Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
This would have been unthinkable if Alberto Romulo were still the DFA secretary.
what is the point of the protest? hypothetically speaking , assuming that philippines is indeed correct, me mangyayari ba dyan ? the analogy of China vs RP is that of Rich vs Poor in RP ?? me nanalo bang mahirap vs rich sa pinas?? the rich always gets the gravy, always wins and supercede the poor, OK , probably not always, lets say 98 % of the time
My take on this is, all these areas should be explored jointly for oil by all the bordering contries. Magusap usap na sana ang lahat ng bansa around the disputed areas to be partners. What good is ownership of anything if a country does not even have any money to develop or explore these? It is like owning a vast tract of land and the owner does not even have a penny to plant anything.
Isn’t Senator Trillianes working on this? He should sharpen his arguments to craft an agreement with the neighboring countries to jointly explore oil in this supposedly oil rich territories. If we spend so much time staking our claim on these boundaries, mauunahan tayo ng ating mga neighbors na mag-explore. Mapapagiwanan na naman tayo.
Before you go into joint exploration, you should be firm with your claim. Once you have established your claim, that’s when you go into cooperation. You negotiate from the position of strength.
PSB, agree with you.
We’ve got to strike while the iron is hot. China has a standing claim that all of South China is theirs. This delayed but otherwise useful protest could be used to straighten out things with China during Mr Aquino’s trip.
And Ellen is right too that we should be firm with our claim… we cannot be wishy washy.
Ellen, I believe in equity sharing. It is okay to give up a portion of ones ownership if one can get something back. Asian countries can sit down and pencil out who has what and compromise on the exploration. The boundaries etc can be tackled when these countries sit down and do the map, math and talk. The haves can shell out the money and the eqipments etc and those with the land can give a few hectares here and there. As long as it is eqitable, ok lang. This is what we need in Asia. We need to all unite. Europeans have their union, why can’t we?
Otherwise Ellen, upuan lang natin ang mga resources natin. As Tongue said, there is nothing wrong with exploring our natural resources. We can benefit from these explorations. We just need to know how to give and take. If we just take and take, that is not healthy at all. When we have something, we should know how to leverage on this for our economic gains. We need oil. Any fluctuations in the world market for oil products brings our economy down. Our consumers never understand that it is not the President of the Philippines who control the prices, it is the supply and demand in the world market. But if we have our own source, we can not fall prey to the fluctuations.
First step: Southeast asian states that also claim the area should rename the South China Sea. Call it ASEAN SEA or something that takes the China out of the name.
I’m definitely no expert in analyzing the geo-political boundaries and history of this dispute and the particular claims of some countries in the ASEAN and of China.
But my man-on-the-street perception is simple. Just looking at the map. China unilaterally drew those 9 dashes? Huh?! Way way out and off their coastlines and very very close to the coastlines of other countries?
Who and what gave them the right to do that? Their sheer size and bravado?
In this dispute, the ASEAN countries need to cooperate and be really united in order to stand up against this dragon bully.
The foreign policy of the new administration has notably shifted from Gloria’s pro-China stance to a more pro-American stance.
The US has also notably shown that it is happy with this development since the US also needs to protect this vital sea lane in the South China Sea for their own interest.
China seems to have taken note of this and has mellowed its bullying stance in the past weeks and says it is willing to discuss things with Aquino and the other claimants.
Some say both the US and China are both bullies. Personally, I am more comfortable with a bully like America than a bully like China.
like it’s i told you so. the comments above
illustrate the doings of ET Parliament during members privelege hour, exchanging views. parang broken record
my rhymless rhyme:
Ellen T’s bloggers came from the backwaters
of frail democracy.
They constitute heretofore the stymied
backwash of abuses
Forcefully they now forge the
backlash of suppressed majority
the uncontrolled, unbridled and
unedited voices of what is right.
Ellen T’s bloggers
More than witnesses they can suggest what to investigate
More than the police they can report hidden fates
More than the priests they can preach to boycott the cheats
More than nationals they can be everywhere fighting
When weblogging is mightiest than pen, that’s
mightier than the sword
I will be proud to say we Pinoys, WE BLOG.
heto pa excerpts from another thread
It’s a play of wishful mind to think that the Bloggers of Ellen should be the true representatives of the Filipino people, taking nothing, monetary or material for the many truths they expound, the few lies the very few paid hacks try to sell. Ellen’s website by the courage of its members, by the vitriol and bile and power of their criticisms, by the wisdom of content of their deliberations,and this their chair breaking humour, is a theoretical or a dream people’s parliament. Because some dreams not of love DO NOT come true, then ET cannot be its president or Anne of B cannot be its Speaker, Coccoy not it’s Whip;, Jug or TT or Vic or SnV or Rose, Balweg, Chi, Henry90 (lots more) not the wannabe ghosts of Recto, Tanada, Diokno, Osias, Primicias, Laurel. Many of them write as if possessed by these Ghosts.
Humus, let’s concentrate on issues and not talk about ourselves. We should not be applauding ourselves. That’s not helpful at all.
You negotiate from the position of strength. – Ellen
I say always!
why is it called south china sea? it is probably because it was ruled before by chinese pirates.likewise the norwegian sea must have come from the time the vikings ruled those areas. but that was many hundred years ago.today diplomacy is the key.examples are the north sea and the baren sea. even though norway is small compared to russia and other neighbors, they are able to find amicable solutions.
Agree with ellen and others that the government thru Pnoy must be firm. Is Pnoy firm? In order to be firm, one must believe first on the strength of ones own reasoning.
Pinas sure knows the “give and take” phrase, but I doubt if China do, psb. Since time immemorial China never gives, it takes.
#9. I go with MB, rename the sea first without China on it, the sea is not their alone. Sino ba nagpangalan nyan?
“the land dominates the sea”… sa chinese “tsong lang akien sy Жщ Њ ЏЋ Ћћњ”. Malina na malinaw.
Matigas pala ang ulo nitong China. Akala ko yellow, astig pala.
Akala niya siguro dahil nandiyan si Meng Fei, Bruce Lee, Jit Lee ay natatakot na kami.
Mayron naman kaming Ramon Zamora, Rey Malonzo, Pedro Penduko. Qeng leon, qeng tigre ali ako tatakot, keka pa.
Natakot siya kay Shuji Karada ng Japan, hindi niya isinama sa 9-dash territorial claim niya.
# 9 and 17
There is the Indian Ocean, but it is not being claimed by India. There is the English Channel, not claimed by England.
Matagal nang ganyan ang tawag ng mundo.
# 18
abc, wala yang mga nabanggit mong panglan na pambato natin laban sa mga karatistang intsik. Isa lang ang pambato natin na matindi. Subok na matibay, subok na matatag.., at yan ay walang iba kundi si….
*janjarajan… drumbeat* MANNY PACQUIAO!!! 😛
I bet nothing will come out of it (talks) regarding the disputed islands, at least in my life time. Walang katapusang bangayan at asaran yan. Sinong magdedesisyon kung kanino talaga ang mga islands na yan? UN? I doubt if they will even decide on that considering there are several countries claiming for it.
Isa pa, kung sakaling nagdecide ang UN or any other international bodies, sa palagay nyo ba matatapos na ang problema? Siguradong aalma ang mga bansang di kinampihan ng UN.
We should take care of this issue bago maging world leader ang China. If China’s military becomes as strong as the US, lagot na tayo. We will just follow all their wishes. Di ba ganyan ang Pinas kay Uncle Sam? What Uncle Sam wants, he gets.
Ellen,
This situation is getting to be truly worrisome. China is standing pat on their claim that the whole of South China Sea is theirs based on some wishy-washy doctrine (Chinese of course) that since ancient times China sea is theirs…
If we go by the tenet that we can only negotiate if we are in a position of strength, then we are doomed.
This republic, which has been weakened by extraordinary corruption by the previous administration, is sufferin from some form of mental paralysis under the current admin. The incredible successive faux pas committed by this admin has left us today in a position of incredible weakness leaving us running around like headless chickens.
This govt must get its acts together. As things stand, this govt does not have the respect of China. Mr Aquino must be bold and must be imaginative. He cannot negotiate with the Chinese unless he gets their respect. And today, I don’t believe he has it. The Chinese know that if they nudge him once more, he just might be bending backward and grovelling before them again. Weak, unimaginative, unintelligent leader is how they see him… Why should they negotiate at all?
Ellen,
I’ll try protesting about this during my trip to China, if they throw me out the Yangtze river I’ll go down shouting “Ellen made me do it!” 🙂
It will take loads of hard work and…. plenty of IMAGINATION to convince the Chinese to even negotiate with us! Our govt must have loads of imagination to even propose it. Aquino is going to China, question is, is he prepared, intellectually and physically to do a marathon think tanking so that he has something to say?
Anne,
Even old Harry called us a soft, forgiving culture. The Chinese can probably pillage, rob, rape, burn, hoodwink the Philippines – and we will still forgive them. My guess, if they even dared to put someone in office in our government, he’d be very welcome.
Besides the US owes a lot of money to the Chines.
So as early as now maybe we should all brush up on our “ni hao ma?”
anne,
no need for a marathon think tank, “just say no.”
Aquino declares:
Mr Aquino is dreaming! Does he really think the US and Japan will INSTANTLY come to militarily defend us if China decides to deploy its forces against ours?
The best line of defence has always been to be prepared but Pinas is nowhere near preparedness, not militarily and not even in terms of diplomatic capability to defend our stand. And the bleeding Chinese bullies know it!
However, one way out is to show determination… to deploy some of naval assets in that part of the world and pray that Neptune banishes any Chinese ships that might engage our miserable assets in battle. We must go by the tenet that occupation is 90% ownership… The president must not do lally and must order our navy to patrol our sea lanes.
If we do that, i.e., physically occupy those territories — and never mind the naysayers (who say we don’t have the capability to do it — bollocks! We’ve got enough!!!), I doubt China will engage our assets there… because even the Chinese, bullies that they are, will not want to be seen as cruel bullies. We should then take advantage of the “lull” to serve China notice — diplomatically that is, that we are calling all claimants to the negotiating table…
I am usually for vigorous defence, and if need be, war but sadly, must be realistic, we cannot do more than deploy our assets to our own Spratly islands.
In other words, we need to be imaginative, foxier than the fox, because we are weak.
Invade China with Drug Mules.Para maubos na ang stock nilang lethal injection.
I am truly worried that if Mr Aquino contintues to do-lally, he will be putting our territorial integrity in great, serious danger.
He might delegate this problem to Binay again.
Jug,
Say no to what? It’s the Chinese that are saying no… we need to make them say “Yes, that part of the Spratly is yours.”
And do you honestly think they will say that? To this president? This president must show a streak of boldness if he even wants them to take him a little seriously. As things are today, I bet they’re just spitting at his every word.
Am trying desperately to hold fire and be patient with this president; am prepared to support him and his govt wholeheartedly in the face of this threat to our territorial integrity but by gum, he is not helping himself by being wishy-washy and appearing like a complete moron.
Mike, natuto na raw ang UN kay Merci. Kaya ang protesta natin ay siguradong uupuhan lang.
Turo natin, sa atin ina-apply.
Baka makatulong sa talakayan…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_the_Sea
In other words, we need to be imaginative, foxier than the fox, because we are weak.-Anne
Agree, agree.
MB, re #9. I’ve seen a petition renaming the South China Sea to Southeast Asia Sea.
I think it’s a good idea.
I’ll see if I can retrieve that petition.
anne,
I don’t believe that there has been any president willing to play chicken with the Chinese, its a big gamble, if he succeeds in appearing as sabre rattling and starts a conflict, he will be blamed for incompetence and that will really start a fiesta of “I told you sos!”
What we can do is to communicate with the other territories concerned, come to a consensus and act as one. A unilateral move at this point by the government will not work.
It would be a different story though if we have the whole country – the people up in arms about this issue, use our “people power”, make a lot of noise, show some unity, etc.
And now, to make things worse, this president is telling the whole world that he’s got so much time to waste on a ridiculous project:
Aquino offers to give prosecutors shooting lessons
How on earth can this president even begin to propose wasting his time on this ridiculous project???? Never mind that this idiotic scheme gives the wrong signal to the world that our country has become a full pledged bandit zone but why does he do lally when there are so many other things that require presidential actions??? Does he think the presidency is some kind of a cowboy game???
As I said earlier on, am trying desperately to hold fire and be patient with this president; am prepared to support him and his govt wholeheartedly in the face of China threat to our territorial integrity but by gum, this president is seriously beginning to annoy me; he is not helping himself by being wishy-washy and appearing like a complete moron.
Jug, that’s exactly what I’ve proposed…serve notice that we are calling all claimants to the negotiating table. No saber rattling at all. We cannot exactly grovel and show that we are spineless lest they won’t take us seriously hence the sea patrol and occupation of the islets, which is a perfectly normal par for the course of any nation that wants to remain a nation.
And it’s all about occupying OUR OWN ISLETS LOCATED WITHIN OUR TERRITORIAL WATERS, not saying we should cross over to where the Chinese islets are.
Ellen,
We should actually rename that whole body of water (within the 200nm range from our baseline) PALAWAN SEA… There, tapos! No more of this shit that the sea is called South China Sea, hence, it belongs to China. And then print 1 million maps for distribution with the PALAWAN SEA in bold, very bold letters. The Malaysians did it over Sabah… The Malaysians, who are not supposed to be as “educated” as Pinas had the imagination to defy the world… why can’t we?
As Georges- Jacques Danton said, and picked up later on by Frederick of Prussia, as well as by War Minister Clemenceau
(Audacity, more audacity and always more audacity.)
anne,
Audacity is something we have in short supply here, we have a lot of “politically correct.”
You may be asking for too much. 🙂
I’m joining my mom in prayer na lang.
Jug, oh dear 🙁
Know what? I’m feeling “sunny” today so believe that Mr Aquino, for the sake of the nation, i.e., 90 million souls and more, will be audacious 😛
Anne,
Magdilang anghel ka sana.
Jug… 😛 😛 😛
Anne,
You seem to forget, the Filipino is brought up to be timid, docile, servile, with the proper “po” everytime. Speaking out audaciously is frowned upon as mayabang, take the case of Trillanes, everybody tried to put him in place.
Will Aquino dare step up to the plate? Will he at least show some semblance that he is his father’s son? Does he have fire in his belly?
Like you I hope that for the sake of the 90 million filipinos he will find wisdom and come up with something creative but not deceptive. How can we outfox the descendants of Sun Tzu?
Even Ninoy, the firebrand was permanently put in his place, the media personnel who dared speak out, the Jonas Burgoses, etc.
Jug, re “How can we outfox the descendants of Sun Tzu?”
We can at least try…The Vietnamese outfoxed them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Vietnamese_War
What have the Vietnamese got that we don’t have? Surely they can’t have more balls or brains than Pinoys.
If we are so good at being timid, docile and servile, then we should use that strength to maximum diplomatic effect to outfox the Chinese.
But we cannot outfox them if we do things half-hazardly and if govt drags its feet to do what’s got to be done, eg., filing of protests late, reading the Chinese so badly that we cave in even before they demand… Naknampucha naman!!!
We can find millions of excuses for the laggard behaviour of our current leaders but those excuses won’t help us I’m afraid. We put them there to lead the country forward but not to drag the country to the pits. We should exact real leadership of them, accept no crap, otherwise, we will be going backward and I suppose that’s not what we want to happen.
Indeed. The North Sea Oil Explorations is one good example. The Philippines and claimant nations could look into this example.
And speaking of audacity, would be well worth it if Mr Aquino remembers (I presume he’s heard of it) the following:
The perfection preached in the Gospels never yet built up an empire. Every man of action has a strong dose of egotism, pride, hardness, and cunning. But all those things will be forgiven him, indeed, they will be regarded as high qualities, if he can make of them the means to achieve great ends. — Charles de Gaulle (1890 – 1970)
The perfection preached in the Gospels never yet built up an empire. Every man of action has a strong dose of egotism, pride, hardness, and cunning. But all those things will be forgiven him, indeed, they will be regarded as high qualities, if he can make of them the means to achieve great ends. — Charles de Gaulle (1890 – 1970)
——————————-
This is priceless!
I was thinking more in the lines of…
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
by Marianne Williamson
Ok, Jug, you have convinced me that you are a romantic… 😉
Di naman kailangan gumastos ng malaki para magpakitang-gilas diyan sa Spratlys.
Yung mga unoccupied islands, tirikan lang ng signboard na may nakalagay na…ano…
BAWAL UMIHI DITO
Tongue,
How apt. Ini-ihi-an lang ba tayo ng China?
I like #58