China accuses Manila of deliberately 'misrepresenting' UNCLOS

Beijing on Monday accused Manila deliberately misinterpreting an international treaty to bolster its claims over some parts of the West Philippine Sea. In so doing, the Philippines is violating fundamental principles of international law on territorial sovereignty, China asserted.

The China National Institute for South China Sea, in a statement, disputed the Philippines' claim that what it calls the Huangyan islands (Scarborough Shoal in what the Philippines calls the West Philippine Sea) is within 125 nautical miles of Luzon island, and therefore within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as provided for by the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas. The UN Convention, called UNCLOS, delineates areas within 200 nautical miles of its land as a country's EEZ."

Clearly, the Philippines here has misinterpreted and misapplied UNCLOS on the basis of its own interests, which is contrary to international law and to UNCLOS. It has been an established basic principle of international law that 'the land dominates the sea,'" the China National Institute for South China Sea said in excerpts of a statement issued by the Chinese Embassy in Manila. "Coastal states derive their sovereign rights and jurisdiction over EEZs from their territorial sovereignty."

The Chinese statement comes as several countries, the Philippines included, protest Beijing's new passport, which bears a map that includes parts of the protesting states' claimed territories. Among those that have filed protests against China are India, Vietnam and Taiwan.Meanwhile, the Philippines has steadily complained against a rising Chinese military presence around disputed islands in the South China Sea, which are being claimed in parts by the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, and Brunei. China claims it owns 90 per cent of the disputed islands.What the Philippines calls the "West Philippine Sea", China refers to as the "South China Sea".

Manila has called on China and the other claimants to settle all the disputes at the Hamburg-based International Tribunal on the Laws of the Sea (ITLOS) or the International Court of Justice.Beijing, however, refuses to settle the disputes on the multilateral level or through the UN, and is instead pushing for bilateral negotiations with each claimant - a gambit seen to weaken the leverage of individual countries against the giant Asian neighbor, now the world’s second largest economy, and which has been steadily flexing its military power in Asia.

Rising tensions in the West Philippines  Sea have been causing wide division among members of the Association of South China Sea (ASEAN), as manifested in some meetings last week in Cambodia of the ASEAN Leaders’ Summit, the East Asian Summit and meetings between ASEAN and its partners. US President Barack Obama himself called for cooler heads in resolving the disputes.As a result of those serious debates on the South China Sea disputes, ASEAN leaders failed to agree on a joint statement in their last meetings in July and November held in Phnom Penh.

The Chinese institute explained on Monday, meanwhile: "UNCLOS cannot serve as a basis for a country to claim sovereignty over China's Huangyan Island. In this context, ignoring the fact Huangyan Island has always belonged to China, the Philippines' EEZs-based territorial claim to the detriment of China's territorial sovereignty is not only a misinterpretation and abuse of UNCLOS, but also represents a violation of the fundamental principle of the inviolability of territorial sovereignty enshrined in the UN Charter."

The Philippines is hosting a meeting of three other claimant countries on December 12 to discuss the increasing Chinese military presence and activities in the disputed islands. Talks between ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam will be at the vice ministerial level, according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario.-Black Pearl (November 26, 2012 10:42PM)