Case Study 1 Philippines; China and Scarborough Shoal

Philippines; China and Scarborough Shoal Territorial claim has always been a big deal to a lot of Southeast Asian neighbouring countries most especially the islands within the vast area of the South China sea. A lot of Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, claimed and still claiming different islands of different numbers based on different laws governing territorial sovereignity including territorial waters. One these islands is the Scarborough Shoal. There are number of reasons why we and these countries pursue these claims. Is it really worth claiming for based on these reason? The Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc during the Spanish colonial rule or Huangyan island according to Beijing, is an uninhabited rocky outcrop located about 220 km West of Palauig, Zambales and almost 1,500 km away from the nereast Chinese coast. Based on this statement, the Philippines has a lot more jurisdiction to claiming the island because of its proximity from the nearest coast. Also, the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas(Unclos) allows states to draw baselines along the low water mark sorrounding a coastal state. The new zones of limited jurisdictions includes the exclusive economic zone which is 200 nautical miles. The waters in the Scarborough Shoal are 120 nautical miles off the Zambales mainland, or within our exclusive economic zone. There are also written proofs of the island being a fisihing area or the Filipinos in the Spanish colonial rule. During those days, it has been a sanctuary for most fishermen of Zambales when they are ashore and the weather becomes unsafe. There was also a map sketched showing the island and being depicted with a different name aside fom Bajo de Masinloc. Aside from these territorial laws, the island has been claimed by other countries because of it vast amount of natural resources including minerals. These natural resources include the marine ecosystem and oil. However, for the past years, the unique marine ecosystem has already been damaged because of decades of overfishing. China has its priorities clear and wants to go for the oil while the Philippines would rather resolve the territorial dispute first and then decide what to dowith the area. The natural resources will help not just the Philippines, but also other countries to fuel its economy. The issue of territorial and maritime claims has worsen because of sudden and inappropriate actions from both sides hat led to a mutual animosity that Manila and Beijing are still struggling to bury under the rug. There is this standoff of the Philippine Navy sending a marine surveillance ship and China sending two other ships as well, plus another one when the Philippines' withdrew to refuel. Not only the government reacted to this but also Filipinos community groups abroad. This resulted to a very unlikely dismissals of Philippines pardons to China to talk it over between the two. Requests of settling the issue between the two countries are always being denied by China aside from the calamity in Mindanao that postponed one of the requests to happen. This also includes the incidents during tthe ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Cambodia. Also, it was said that it was possible that President Aquino's invitation was turned down by Chinese President Hu Jintao after Aquino ordered the official use of the name "West Philippine Sea" to reffer to maritime areas surrounding territories claimed by the Philippines, a move resented by Beijing and defended by Manila. China also refused to go to international court and settle the issue through the

judicial resolution provision in the Unclos. The Philippine government has made a move that helped mend the ties when DILG Secretary Mar Roxas was nominated by the President to meet Chinese Vice President and leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping in China when the snub had deeply impacted the administration. Also, thinking about the tne guidlines in the Unclos about the baselines, the Philippines has a good starting point. It is just up to us on how the government will convince the China to go to court, convince the people necessary to be convinced about our international dispute concerning the territorial claims, justify our claims under the present international law and not on merely citing the shape or date of old maps.