Philippines rests case in sea row

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines has concluded its legal arguments against China before an international arbitral court, saying it is entrusting its fate to a court that it believes will uphold the rule of law and not the “quaint aspiration of a time now past.”

In a speech before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said whatever is decided by the tribunal would have an impact on the fate of the Philippines, the region and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

“We confidently entrust our fate, the fate of the region and, indeed, the fate of the Convention to you,” he said, as he expressed confidence the court’s “capable hands” would steer the issue to “a truly just solution.”

The Philippine team in The Hague, led by Del Rosario and Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, wrapped up its oral arguments on the case it filed before the tribunal seeking to reaffirm the Philippines’ entitlements in the West Philippine Sea and questioning China’s massive claim over almost the entire South China Sea and the West Philippine Sea.

China cites “historical facts” and its nine-dash line for justifying its claim, which is also being contested by other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), especially Vietnam.

He said the tribunal must decide on the issue on the basis of UNCLOS alone, as doing otherwise “would leave the Philippines, and its ASEAN neighbors, in worse straits than when we embarked on this arbitral voyage.”

“That said, your mandate to achieve justice is not carried out in a vacuum. Judges and arbitrators are not expected to be oblivious to the realities on the ground,” Del Rosario told the tribunal.

‘Berlin Wall of the Sea’

Del Rosario also said a decision favorable to China “would convert the nine-dash line, or its equivalent in the form of exaggerated maritime zones for tiny, uninhabitable features, into a Berlin Wall of the Sea.”?He said it would be tantamount to building a “giant fence, owned by, and excluding everyone but, China itself.”

He stressed the objectives of UNCLOS are “far from irrelevant” as they include “the maintenance and strengthening of international peace and security.”

“Nothing would contribute more to these objectives than the tribunal’s finding that China’s rights and obligations are neither more nor less than those established by UNCLOS,” he said.

Allowing China a “potential entitlement” to 200 nautical miles on the basis of a “speck of broken coral and sand” in the middle of the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea would hand Beijing a “golden key,” Del Rosario said, quoting one of the Philippines’ legal representatives.