By The Diplomat | Created at 2024-11-11 05:36:41 | Updated at 2024-11-18 05:46:35
1 week ago
On Friday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed into law two pieces of legislation asserting the country’s maritime rights over disputed areas of the South China Sea, prompting an angry response from the Chinese government.
After signing the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act and Philippine Maritime Zones Act in a nationally televised ceremony, Marcos said that they reflected “the importance of our maritime and archipelagic identity,” according to a statement from his office. He also said that the Filipino people, “especially our fisherfolk, should be able to pursue their livelihood free from uncertainty and harassment.”
The Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act establishes a system through which foreign vessels and aircraft can exercise the right of passage through Philippine waters. The Philippine Maritime Zones Act seeks to set clear definitions for the Philippines’ maritime rights by creating routes over its waters and airspace. Both seek to harmonize Philippine domestic law with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, commonly known as UNCLOS, under which Manila brought a successful legal claim against China.
“With these pieces of legislation, we align our domestic laws with international law … improve our capacity for governance and reinforce our maritime policies for economic development and for national security,” Marcos said in the statement. “By defining and asserting our maritime zones, we project to the international community that we are staunchly committed to nurturing, cultivating and protecting our maritime domain.”
The laws are a clear response to a string of sometimes violent stand-offs with the China Coast Guard in areas of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which have intensified since Marcos took office in mid-2022. These conflicts have edged up to the line of open conflict, culminating in a clash in June that saw China Coast Guard personnel board several small Philippine boats, prompting a melee in which one member of the Philippines’ Naval Special Operations Group lost a finger.
In a separate statement, National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano said that the legislation will help the Philippines secure its rights in the South China Sea. “These legal instruments solidify our territory and enhances our ability to protect our country against any infringement,” he said, as per the Associated Press.
Unsurprisingly, a matter of hours after the televised signing ceremony, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Philippine ambassador to lodge a “stern protest” against the legislation. The Ministry condemned the move as an attempt to “solidify the illegal ruling of the South China Sea arbitration case through domestic legislation.”
The Philippine Maritime Zones Act “illegally includes most of China’s Huangyan Island and Nansha Islands and related maritime areas in the Philippines’ maritime zones,” said Beijing’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning. The spokesperson used the Chinese names for Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands, which have seen recent stand-offs between the two nations’ coast guards.
“China urges the Philippine side to effectively respect China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, to immediately stop taking any unilateral actions that may lead to the widening of the dispute and complicate the situation,” Mao said.
China has also passed domestic laws that are designed to strengthen its expansive claims in the South China Sea, dating right back to the Law Concerning Territorial Waters and Adjacent Regions of February 1992, which laid claim to more than 80 percent of the South China Sea. More recently, in January 2021, it passed a coast guard law that allows it to fire on foreign vessels and detain foreigners suspected of trespassing into Chinese waters.
Certainly, it remains to be seen how and whether the Philippines will be able to enforce the laws in the face of strong Chinese opposition. At the same time, the laws help bolster the notion that the Philippines has the moral weight of international law on its side, if not the preponderance of force, in the South China Sea.
Senator Francis Tolentino, one author of the legislation, said that he did not expect a reduction in tensions. “China will not recognize these, but the imprimatur that we’ll be getting from the international community would strengthen our position,” he told a press conference, Reuters reported.
