One reiterates that the Spratlys dispute be brought pronto to the United Nations. Rather than countering the flexing of arms by China, puny Philippines has to confer with other countries also with claims over Spratlys to take up the move for the United Nations to resolve.
Apparently for now, China appears to have calmed down with its threat that it’s an act of aggression or an act of war if the Philippines insists with its claim over the Reed Banks in Kalayaan Islands and the Spratlys, when U.S.A. belatedly changed its stance.
To recall, the U.S. Foreign Affairs through Secretary Hillary Clinton and the Secretary of Defense belatedly and openly announced that America will stand by with the Philippines in the event of war over the Spratlys group of islands. Thus, Clinton categorically said: “We are determined and committed to supporting the defense of the Philippines,” and to modernize the Philippine military.
Perhaps, like a child emboldened by his elder brother’s confronting a bully, the Philippines has now brought the Spratlys issue to the UN’s International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) to resolve peacefully the Spratlys dispute.
It’s quite inscrutable, however, that until now four other Asian countries, namely Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan have not intervened and come forward to stake their claims of ownership over the Spratlys group. It’s not only to fructify the saying “the more the merrier,” but to reinforce a united stand with the Philippines as the better gesture of persuasion. Adopting the stance of standing by with virtual arms akimbo, especially now that the dispute is brought to the UN’s ITLOS, doesn’t speak well of the sincerity and legitimacy of their claims.
Such needed united stand against China which is bent on spreading its hegemony in such iconoclastic brashness, is essential when the ITLOS will conduct its deliberations eventually. China still insists that the entire Spratlys Islands and the West Philippine Sea within the Philippine waters as their sole territory. Of course, this Chinese claim necessarily affects the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan.
According to DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario, China still maintains that its sovereignty embraces over the entire Spratlys Islands and beyond, within the periphery of the South China Sea as China takes the view that “what is ours is ours and what is disputed can be shared.” On the other hand, the Philippines’ claim is based on the 1992 United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea or UNCLOS.
Del Rosario hopefully opines that China has recently agreed to a “peaceful resolution,” as “the channels of communications will be left open and we will continue to dialogue.” Well, that’s the sunny side of the issue, although the Chinese Presidium may decide otherwise.
To repeat, the Philippine DFA has to prod diplomatically the other four Asian nations with claims over Spratlys to prove their ownership before the United Nations to complete the “dialogue” before the ITLOS. Otherwise, the dispute would linger on, and indefinitely hang in continuing conflict vis-à-vis China’s overall claim over all islands and islets located within the South China Sea.
That’s the ultimate crux that while the Philippines and the four other countries have ownership over the Spratlys group of islands, China adamantly maintains that all the Spratly Islands located within the South China Sea are owned by China. Hopefully, the United Nations’ International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea can resolve the disputed issue fairly and equitably.