The European Union reiterated the fundamental importance of upholding the freedoms, rights and duties established in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in particular the freedoms of navigation and overflight. On the seventh anniversary of the international arbitral ruling in The Hague invalidating China’s claim over almost the entire South China […]
Today marks the seventh anniversary of an Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention firmly rejecting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) expansive South China Sea maritime claims, including any PRC claim to the area determined by the Arbitral Tribunal to be part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and continental […]
When the Philippines initiated arbitration proceedings before the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in January 2013 against China’s expansive claims and assertions about its supposed “historic rights” over the South China Sea on the basis of its so-called “nine-dash line,” many – including the United States based on the information we received – […]
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Carlos Sorreta wrongly stated that the Supreme Court (SC) upheld a “literal description” of the national territory in its decision to declare the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) unconstitutional. The JMSU is a 2005 exploration agreement among the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PETROVIETNAM), and China National […]
MANILA, Philippines — The world’s seven most powerful democracies back the Philippines’ claims in the South China Sea as they opposed Beijing’s expansive maritime claims and strongly opposed its militarization in the region. The Group of Seven (G7) — comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States — plus the […]
In my column last week, I pointed out the reasons why former president Noynoy Aquino and President Bongbong Marcos elected to lean on the US rather than China. There are at least six reasons for their decision: Philippine sovereignty is not under threat with the US, as it is with China. China’s bullying tactics have […]
SUMMARY China told the Philippines on Monday, August 7, to remove its grounded warship from the Ayungin Shoal, also known as Second Thomas Shoal, in the South China Sea after blocking two Manila supply ships with water cannons over the weekend as both sides asserted their claims of the area. The Philippines accused the Chinese coast guard of […]