Hearing at The Hague: More than just a China-Philippines war

(Baonghean) - As dawn breaks over the fishing village of El Nido on the tropical island of Palawan, in the Philippines, it is hard to believe that a dispute of global geopolitical importance is brewing just offshore. At 7:30 a.m., the village is a picture of peace and tranquility: wooden boats gently bob on the blue sea, a little girl takes a bath in a bucket outside her house, and chickens in the coop squawk. The only sign of the commotion is on the village basketball court, where teenagers compete in a game under the rising sun.

However, China’s actions in the South China Sea have been in the news frequently in recent days, and people in El Nido are furious. “China is misusing its power,” local Jozar De Los Santos told the Daily Telegraph.

The question of who has control over the Spratly Islands and much of the rest of the South China Sea is now before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands. In a special hearing that began on July 7 and ended on July 13, the Philippines challenged China’s “nine-dash line” claim to the resource-rich and strategically important maritime territories, including small rocks and reefs.

The days of hearings at the PCA in The Hague are decisive for the Philippines' legal battle to assert its sovereignty over part of the East Sea. Photo: gov.ph.

The Philippines wants the court to rule that under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), China can only claim sovereignty and rights to resources within certain distances from its mainland. If the court agrees, that would significantly narrow Beijing’s “nine-dash line” claim – a U-shaped line based on unsubstantiated historical claims to 85 percent of the South China Sea. Although China ratified and ratified UNCLOS in 2006, it has refused to participate in the proceedings at The Hague, instead submitting a “statement of position” challenging the court’s authority to decide the case. In April, the court decided to split its initial judgment on whether it has jurisdiction – an issue the judges are currently considering and will rule on in the coming months.

“This is the first time that a claimant has challenged China’s claims in an international court,” said Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. If the court rules that the imaginary line known as the “nine-dash line” is inconsistent with UNCLOS, “it would represent a major legal and moral victory for the Philippines and a defeat for China,” he added.

For the Philippines, the international tribunal represents a chance for a fairer fight. But in the two years since the Philippines first filed a case seeking to enforce its right to exploit waters within its 200-nautical-mile “exclusive economic zone” (EEZ) as defined by UNCLOS, the word “battle” over the South China Sea has changed.

Over the past 18 months, China has been busy dredging sand and pouring concrete to lay claim to seven coral reefs, or more than 8 square kilometers of land, in the Spratly Islands, including some of the territory the Philippines claims as part of its EEZ. Satellite images of China’s “great wall of sand,” as one US admiral has described it, appear to depict militarized bases with port facilities and airstrips in advanced stages of development. There is little doubt now that these bases will support the Chinese on the island: photos posted on a Chinese news site of Fiery Cross Reef show military officers irrigating eggplant and tomato plants and pigs in pens.

Other claimants to the Spratlys have been building on their islands, but not on the scale and pace that China has. China argues that it is building for the global commons, and that the new outposts will be used for civilian and conservation purposes. “That’s ridiculous,” Storey said. “These facilities will allow China to conduct search and rescue missions, but they are fundamentally strategic.”

Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2013 with his “great power dream,” China’s foreign policy has become more assertive. The South China Sea is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, with an estimated $6.7 trillion in trade passing through it every year. The concern is that China will assert greater sovereignty, threaten freedom of navigation, and force claimants such as the Philippines to negotiate on its terms.

In recent months, Manila has increased its military presence in Palawan, an area President Benigno Aquino has called “the front line of our territorial defense operations.” In June, it invited Japanese and American surveillance planes to conduct joint training exercises with the Philippine Navy. Meanwhile, all sides have been on the offensive in tone.

In the Philippines, China’s encroachment is often described in the media and in everyday conversation as “war.” In two protests in May and June, the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (KPNE), an advocacy group, demonstrated at the Chinese consulate in Manila. A survey by the Social Weather Stations research institute found that 84% of Filipinos were worried that the dispute could lead to “armed conflict.”

Meanwhile, discussing the Philippines' second hearing in its lawsuit against China at the PCA in The

The Hague, geopolitical analyst Richard Heydarian said the international legal system could help curb some of China's "territorial aggression".

“We need to be realistic,” CNN quoted the analyst as saying. “The legal cycle is very slow, it could take one to three months before we know the jurisdiction. The Philippines has spent more than two years pursuing this process and is now only discussing the jurisdiction issue.”

“This is not just a fight between the Philippines and China. This is why Japan, Vietnam and Malaysia have sent representatives to The Hague, because they also have interests involved and to make sure that first of all, legally we invalidate China’s absurd claim that they have historical rights to the South China Sea,” he added.

Thu Giang

(According to Telegraph, CNN)