SUMMARY MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines on Thursday, November 16, called on China to remove all its “illegal structures” in the Spratlys, an archipelago of islands, cays, and reefs that’s rich in marine life and, possibly, oil and gas. “We call on China to remove all these illegal structures, cease reclamations in the South China […]
SUMMARY Note: Remarks delivered by retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio T. Carpio during the inauguration last November 10, 2023 of the ANU Philippines Institute. ANU is the Australia National University at Canberra, Australia. The South China Sea dispute is the most complicated dispute in the world today. The dispute involves both a maritime dispute and […]
SUMMARY JAKARTA, Indonesia – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday, September 7, urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its allies to stand against the “dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels in the South China Sea.” Marcos, who was speaking at the 18th East Asia Summit (EAS) attended by […]
SUMMARY JAKARTA, Indonesia – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said tensions in the South China Sea cannot be seen “solely through the lens of strategic competition between two powerful countries.” “The Philippines firmly rejects misleading narratives that frame the disputes in the South China Sea solely through the lens of strategic competition between two powerful […]
SUMMARY China’s most mind-boggling claim to the South China Sea is the nine-dash line, which encloses about 85.7% of the waters of the South China Sea. China’s narrative is that it owned all the islands, oil, gas, fish and other resources within the nine-dash line 2,000 years ago. Never mind that it was only in the mid-20th […]
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 […]
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 […]
SUMMARY MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines’ top security adviser said on Friday, May 26, that there was nothing provocative about the country’s decision to place navigational buoys within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) Describing them as “safety measures,” National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said their placement is based merely on the “international order,” referring to […]