File new arbitration cases vs China–Carpio
Former Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio again pressed the government to file new arbitration cases against China over its illegal actions in the West Philippine Sea.
In a speech during a reception dinner aboard the BRP Melchora Aquino in Manila on Friday, Carpio said the government should in fact “file several arbitration cases” against China for its violations of international law.
“File another arbitration case. China is in dread of the Philippines filing another arbitration case. In fact, we should file several arbitration cases,” Carpio said.
The retired jurist made the proposal as China’s President Xi Jinping reiterated on Friday his call for an “equal and orderly” multipolar world that would “reject the big subduing the small, the strong bullying the weak and the rich exploiting the poor.”
Carpio said China refuses to participate in an arbitration of a dispute involving international law because they could not prove their expansive claims.
According to Carpio, Wu Shicun, president of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies who is considered Beijing’s guru on the South China Sea issue, recently said that “we should stop the Philippines from filing another arbitration case” because it would show China’s bullying of its small, weak and poor neighbors.
He cited that the Philippines already sought United Nations recognition of its claim to an extended continental shelf in the West Philippine Sea.
Possible scenario
China protested the Philippines’ request through a June 18 note verbale to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.
Carpio said that if there is a country that opposes your extended continental shelf, then the UN Commission on the Limits of the Shelf would not act on it anymore, “you have to go to arbitration.”
“So this is our chance to bring China to another arbitration and China will not join the arbitration because China knows it will lose. It will depend on the nine-dash line, which has already been struck down by the arbitral tribunal,” he said.
Since Beijing does not want to go to arbitration, Carpio said it would “isolate” the Asian superpower.
“It will put China in a dilemma because it opposes our claim, but it cannot go the next step because China knows it will lose,” he said.
He also said the Philippines should challenge China to submit the territorial dispute to arbitration by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“We challenge China, if you really believe that you own these islands since 2,000 years ago, okay let’s go to the ICJ for arbitration. China will again refuse because China can only produce the 1947 claim,” he said.
He pointed out that China claimed the Spratlys only in 1947 while the Philippines claimed it way back in 1734 as show by the Murillo Velarde map.
Beijing’s claim weak
“So China will not appear again and we can go to the court of world opinion and say China refuses to join the arbitration because its claim is weak. So that’s the second thing that we can do to pile up the legal cases against China,” he said.
He also proposed that “we shift our presence” at Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal to civilian presence.
He explained that every time Manila conducts a resupply mission to BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin, the Chinese will almost certainly harass Philippine ships.
The tribunal, he said, already stated that “we do not have jurisdiction because that is a military activity” and China opted out of compulsory arbitration in cases of military activities and that is allowed under United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
“So what do we do? How do we give the tribunal the jurisdiction? We shift our presence there to civilian presence,” he said.
