A 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling has already rejected Beijing’s sweeping claim over most of the South China Sea. - PHOTO: ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES
MANILA: The Philippines on Friday joined Malaysia and India in disputing a new Chinese map claiming the waters off the South-east Asian nations’ coasts, as well as part of the north-east of India.
The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it is rejecting the map issued on Monday by Beijing’s Ministry of Natural Resources.
The new map features a 10-dash line that includes the eastern parts of the disputed South China Sea that fall within Manila’s 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Philippines officially calls this area the West Philippine Sea.
A 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling has already rejected Beijing’s sweeping claim over most of the South China Sea, which is also being claimed by four Asean countries – the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam – as well as Taiwan.
China’s claim has long been represented by a nine-dash line in its map.
Beijing, however, has refused to recognise this ruling and has instead ramped up its military presence and artificial island-building activities in the disputed waters.
The Philippines said Beijing’s latest attempt to legitimise its claim over the country’s features and maritime zones in the disputed waterway has no basis under international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).
“The 2016 Arbitral Award invalidated the nine-dashed line. It categorically stated that ‘maritime areas of the South China Sea encompassed by the relevant part of the nine-dash line are contrary to the Convention and without lawful effect to the extent that they exceed the geographic and substantive limits of China’s maritime entitlements under the Convention’,” said the DFA in a statement.
“The Philippines, therefore, calls on China to act responsibly and abide by its obligations under Unclos and the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award,” it added.
China’s new map also overlapped with Malaysia’s EEZ off the coast of the Sabah and Sarawak states on Borneo island. Malaysia disputed the map on Wednesday, making it the first Asean country to do so.
“Malaysia does not recognise China’s claims in the South China Sea, as outlined in the ‘China Standard Map 2023 Edition’, which covers Malaysia’s maritime area,” the Malaysian Foreign Ministry said.
Kuala Lumpur described the South China Sea issue as “complex and sensitive”, and said the dispute must be “handled peacefully and rationally through dialogue” based on international law.
Malaysia said it supported the creation of a Code of Conduct on the disputed waterway, which South-east Asian nations are currently negotiating.
India, likewise, protested against China’s new map, which is claiming the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh and the disputed Aksai Chin plateau.
India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi on Tuesday said China’s claims have no basis.
“Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary in question,” he said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Wednesday defended the new map, calling it a “routine practice in China’s exercise of sovereignty in accordance with the law”.
“We hope relevant sides can stay objective and calm, and refrain from over-interpreting the issue,” he said.
China released its new map in the same month that its ships fired water cannon at Philippine vessels that were part of a routine resupply mission to a grounded World War II-era warship serving as the country’s military outpost in the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea.
The new map was also released just days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the Brics summit in South Africa and discussed efforts to de-escalate tensions in the disputed border. - The Straits Times/ANN
