New Philippine Laws Define Maritime Zones in the South China Sea

By Free Republic | Created at 2024-11-25 20:14:25 | Updated at 2024-12-04 08:53:48 1 week ago

New Philippine Laws Define Maritime Zones in the South China Sea
U.S. Naval Institute ^ | NOVEMBER 12, 2024 | AARON-MATTHEW LARIOSA

Posted on 11/25/2024 11:38:49 AM PST by Retain Mike

Using standards set forth by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Philippine Maritime Zones Act and Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act identify the country’s internal waters, archipelagic waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone, continental shelf and sea lanes. Manila wants these acts to solidify its rights and sovereignty within the Philippines’ maritime zones.

Following the seizure of Scarborough Shoal in 2012 by Chinese forces, Manila turned to international courts to delegitimize Beijing’s claims in the region, culminating in the 2013 arbitration case and the 2016 South China Sea Arbitration. Despite the outcome of the arbitration, which discredited Beijing’s nine-dash-line claim over the majority of the region via UNCLOS, the Philippines had yet to adopt the international laws to delineate its waters. Through these laws, the National Maritime Council noted that the Philippines can “respond to regional maritime disputes with a clear, unified voice.” Loren Legarda, a senator who worked on both laws, also highlighted that they provide a “robust legal foundation for the Philippines to assert its jurisdiction and sovereign rights over its vast marine resources and surrounding seas.”

China condemned the new laws, claiming that they destabilize the region and reiterated its claims by posting a list of coordinates detailing maritime features, including Sabina and Second Thomas Shoals, and their Chinese names.

“This is an important element in what must be a comprehensive national strategy for the Philippines to combat what has grown to become a maritime occupation of the West Philippine Sea by a hostile imperial power,” Ray Powell, director of the SeaLight Project at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, told USNI News regarding the new laws

(Excerpt) Read more at news.usni.org ...

TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: china; law; maritime; philippine

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Thank you very much and God bless you.

I think I am seeing a pattern in my last five posts.

China, being a nuclear power and rapidly expanding its arsenal, changes the strategic equation,

“The task force is comprised of U.S. forces providing our Philippines allies with enhanced cooperation and interoperability for their maritime operations.”

Using standards set forth by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Philippine Maritime Zones Act and Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act identify the country’s internal waters, archipelagic waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone, continental shelf and sea lanes. China condemned the new laws, claiming that they destabilize the region and reiterated its claims by posting a list of coordinates detailing maritime features, including Sabina and Second Thomas Shoals, and their Chinese names.

On Monday at 11 a.m., the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) confirmed Shandong, together with cruiser CNS Yan’an (106) and destroyer CNS Zhanjiang (165), were sailing in an area 447 miles south of Miyako Island.

Supported by gunboats and a former U.S. Coast Guard cutter, Philippine Navy SEALs and Marines approached a South China Sea island owned by Manila in a simulated seizure drill as Chinese forces observed from afar on Wednesday.

1 posted on 11/25/2024 11:38:49 AM PST by Retain Mike

To: Retain Mike

Within the next 10 years, there will be a major, posssibly nuclear confrontation between the U.S. and China.

2 posted on 11/25/2024 11:42:12 AM PST by montag813

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