POLICING THE SOUTH CHINA SEA
IN 2016, the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration Court (PCA) at The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines on its arbitration case against China concerning their overlapping claims in the South China Sea. Both the Philippines and China are treaty members of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), but China did not participate in the arbitration proceedings and did not recognize the results thereof.
Unclos, otherwise known as the Constitution of the Oceans, does not have a law enforcement agency, so the arbitral ruling was never enforced. And no one ever threatened to arrest any Chinese official for ignoring the arbitral ruling.
Now, the shoe is on the other foot. China has threatened to arrest people sailing into its self-declared internal waters without its prior consent. This is not in accord with any international court ruling but solely on the say-so of China's officials. The arbitral court has no mandate to rule on any sovereignty issue and did not rule on what parts of the Sea belong to China or the Philippines. But it ruled that China's so-called nine-dash line (now 10-dash line) has no legal basis and that the Philippines has the "sovereign right" to explore the living and non-living resources within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), 200 nautical miles from its shore. The territorial sea limit only extends 12 miles from the shore.
Since then, various incidents have occurred during the Philippines' resupply mission to its Marine contingent on board the BRP Sierra Madre, the dilapidated warship that has been grounded since 1999 at the Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, as a makeshift symbol of Philippine sovereignty in the contested waters.
In an apparent effort to make sure the supplies are limited to food for the Marines only and do not include construction and repair materials for the deteriorating warship, the Chinese coast guard, assisted by a strong maritime militia, has tried to subject these missions to an extreme process, using water cannons and military-grade laser on the Filipinos. I, for one, have suggested that the Philippine Coast Guard engage the Chinese in a water cannon tit-for-tat, but President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has thrown cold water on the idea. Although no weapons of war have been used, some minor casualties have lately been sustained by the Philippine side.
To seize the propaganda offensive, the Filipinos lately organized a massive seaborne convoy of fishermen and civilians, armed with huge propaganda streamers and loudspeakers proclaiming the area they were sailing into was Philippine sovereign territory — "This is ours! ("Atin Ito!"). Chinese ships shadowed the convoy all the way, but happily, no water-cannoning or military-grade laser incident occurred. In an apparent effort to regain the initiative, China announced it would begin asserting its right over its sovereign territory and begin arresting "trespassers" whom it would detain without any legal process for at least 60 days.
China was supposed to start doing this on June 15, but the day came and went without any report of any such action. Several days later, Chinese and Philippine Coast Guard vessels collided near Ayungin Shoal. Some injuries were sustained on the Philippine side, but both sides blamed each other for the incident. The Chinese coast guard was quoted as saying the Philippine vessel approached the Chinese vessel in an unprofessional manner after ignoring warnings from the Chinese side; the Philippine side, for its part, said the Chinese claim was "deceptive and misleading." With both sides blaming each other, th ult is a confusing picture.
The South China Sea is an undemarcated large body of water. The world does not really know what belongs to China and what belongs to the global commons. Since China wants to assert its right on its claimed sovereign territory, it might want to install a naval surveillance system that warns every small boat that drifts into the South China Sea that it is about to enter or that it has just entered forbidden Chinese waters and should now turn back to avoid arrest and detention.
However, this could turn the whole of the South China Sea, including its traditional common fishing grounds like the Bajo de Masinloc, which Filipino fishermen have long considered their own fishing grounds, into a narrow Chinese lake under the thumb of petty municipal enforcers. And escalate the rising tension in the area. This can't possibly be good for China.
Perhaps it is time for China and the other South China Sea claimants to consider the presence of neutral third parties to help police the area. Some have suggested that the Asean be asked to provide this service, but this initiative should probably come from the regional organization itself. So far, Asean has shown little interest in it.
One other option is for China, in discharging its responsibility to the region and the world as a great power, to initiate negotiations with the various parties involved to create the conditions for diplomacy and peace, even as others are trying to enlarge the opportunities and reasons for conflict if not war.
2024-06-23T16:23:11Z dg43tfdfdgfd