Change Chinese mindset: ‘West Philippine Sea is not yours’

MANILA, Philippines — More Filipinos are likely to back calls for a more assertive government stand against China’s provocative activities in the West Philippine Sea, Supreme Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said on Friday.

In an interview with “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News, Carpio reiterated his call for a more vigorous campaign to change the mindset of the Chinese that the West Philippine Sea does not belong to China.

He also said that there are now bills pending in Congress pushing for the declaration of portions of the West Philippine Sea as a marine protected area. 

Last month, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) released results of a survey showing 84 percent of Filipinos convinced that the Duterte administration was not doing enough to stop China’s intrusion in the West Philippine Sea. He said the 84 percent “would go up by the end of the year.”

“That is good because it is only when we are united can we get the ruling enforced,” he said.

He said the Philippine government should continue to assert its rights over the West Philippine Sea and every year it should do something to fortify the ruling handed down by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2016.

The ruling states that China has no legal basis for its nine-dash line territorial claim.

Carpio was part of the Philippine legal team that won the landmark case.

He also said Filipinos should take time to understand the issues so that they could better explain the country’s position to other nationalities. Once they have convinced other countries of the Philippines’ position, together they could convince the Chinese that the West Philippine Sea does not belong to them. 

“China will not accept the ruling, not unless the Chinese people realize that the historical narrative 2000 years ago is false. Since grade school to college they have been taught that they own the South China Sea and they really believe it because they were not taught other things,” he said.

“We have to change their mindset. The Chinese government will not comply with the ruling until the Chinese people realize that historical narrative is false. If the Chinese government complies with the ruling today, that would delegitimize them before the eyes of the Chinese people,” Carpio pointed out.

He said it should also be impressed upon other nations that “if China can seize the South China Sea and deprive us of our EEZ (exclusive economic zone), your bigger neighbor might seize your EEZ also, it might follow the example of China.”