EDITORIAL – Disinvited

President Aquino scrapped his one-day visit to China after Beijing “disinvited” him to the ongoing trade fair in Nanning, where the Philippines is this year’s country of honor. The reason, according to reports, was Manila’s rejection of a condition set by Beijing for the visit, which was the withdrawal of the arbitration case filed by the Philippines against China before the United Nations. The case seeks a definition of Philippine maritime entitlements under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and related international agreements.

The arbitration case, filed earlier this year, is moving ahead, despite China’s official rejection of the process. Philippine officials have explained that the country was forced to take the case to the UN, invoking the UNCLOS to which both the Philippines and China are signatories, because of increasingly aggressive moves by Beijing to stake its maritime territorial claims.

This week the Department of National Defense disclosed that the Chinese have installed 75 concrete blocks around Panatag or Scarborough Shoal off Zambales, a traditional fishing area for the province. The shoal is a long way from China and is well within the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone as defined under UNCLOS, but Beijing is laying claim to nearly the entire South China Sea.

With its economic prosperity, China has invested heavily in defense and has become more assertive in laying claim to nearly all its surrounding waters, leaving its neighbors almost nothing to claim as maritime territory. China has also insisted on settling all territorial claims bilaterally, blocking efforts within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, where the Philippines is a founding member, to adopt a regional approach to the issue.

Faced with growing Chinese military might and diplomatic muscle-flexing within ASEAN, the Philippines turned to the UN for arbitration. With bilateral ties strained by the case, President Aquino’s attendance at the 10th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning could have eased the tension and promoted goodwill, allowing the countries to work on many other aspects of cooperation even as the maritime dispute simmers. Shortly after the President announced his intention to go to Nanning, however, Beijing sent word that he should visit “at a more conducive time.” The “disinvitation” was a lost opportunity for improving frayed relations between two old friends.