The United States Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs has come out with a 47-page research paper saying China had no basis under international law for the claims that have put Beijing on a collision course with the Philippines, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations.
Rejecting both the geographical and historic bases for its vast, divisive and unilaterally drawn map; the US State Department released the study and called on China “to cease its unlawful and coercive activities in the South China Sea.”
“The overall effect of these maritime claims is that the PRC (People’s Republic of China) unlawfully claims sovereignty or some form of exclusive jurisdiction over most of the South China Sea,” the paper said.
“These claims gravely undermine the rule of law in the oceans and numerous universally recognized provisions of international law reflected in the Convention,” it said, referring to a 1982 UN treaty on the law of the sea that was ironically ratified by China but not by the United States.
The US State Department paper is an update of a 2014 study that similarly disputed the so-called “nine-dash line” that forms the basis for much of Beijing’s stance. In 2016, an international court ruled in favor of the Philippines in its complaints over China’s claims. The latter replied by offering new justifications, including saying it had “historic rights” over the area.
The report was issued as the US increasingly challenges China on the global stage, identifying the communist power as its chief long-term threat. In 2020, then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo explicitly backed claims of Southeast Asian nations in the South China Sea, going beyond the past US stance of challenging China without taking an issue on which countries were right.
With the US getting more involved with matters concerning the South China Sea, the Philippines should reconsider its weak stance against China’s aggressive expansion in the West Philippine Sea. The support from the international community has always been there and it was up to us to leverage that support to counter Beijing’s ridiculous claims. The Philippines has already lost a lot of precious time and territory to the neighborhood bully but there are still ways and means to fight back and make a stand without going to war. Now is the time to reassess the sentiments of the international community and explore the available options.*
