Filipino security and maritime law experts were dismayed by the Philippines’ decision to sidestep the South China Sea dispute and set aside the country’s historic legal victory in the arbitral tribunal while chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) . Professor Jay Batongbacal, director of…
MANILA — Filipino security and maritime law experts were dismayed by the Philippines’ decision to sidestep the South China Sea dispute and set aside the country’s historic legal victory in the arbitral tribunal while chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) .
Professor Jay Batongbacal, director of the UP College of Law Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea minced no words.
“The Philippine leadership of Asean is now overshadowed by its deference to China on the disputes, ” Batongbacal told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a text message.
“With this, the Philippine and Asean claimants will see little or no progress in the management of the disputes, despite the opportunity provided by the award and its determination of their maritime rights outside of the sovereignty issues, ” he said.
Aside from the Philippines, other Asean claimant countries are Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Brunei.
The Philippines sits as Asean chair on the 50th founding anniversary of the regional bloc known for its slow, consensus-building approach in addressing concerns.
The much-anticipated Asean chairman’s statement was released early Sunday morning, amid rumors that China had pressured the Philippine government not to mention its legal victory in the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague in July 2016.
Experts have already expected the toned down statement, but not a complete absence of the arbitral tribunal ruling in the statement.
The Aquino administration had brought China to court for arbitration in 2013, questioning its so-called nine-dash line demarcation that it uses to claim almost the entire South China Sea.
The international court sided with the Philippines, in effect giving legal victory also to other South China Sea claimants.
Batongbacal and other experts believed that the Philippines’ legal victory has given the Asean opportunity to have the “moral high ground” in settling the maritime row with China.
