PH open to Vietnam talks on overlapping sea claims
The Philippines on Thursday said it was willing to discuss its overlapping extended continental shelf (ECS) with Vietnam after Hanoi filed its own ECS claim before a United Nations body a day earlier.
Vietnam filed its claim a month after regional neighbor the Philippines made a similar move, Vietnam’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.
The submission of the continental shelf beyond the current 370 kilometers (200 nautical miles) is to exercise the rights and obligations of state parties in accordance to the maritime framework, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
This is Vietnam’s third submission of an ECS, the statement added, including a submission in respect to the north area of the South China Sea or Vietnam’s East Sea and a joint submission with Malaysia in respect to the southern part of the area in 2009.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Its claims were invalidated in a 2016 ruling by the international arbitral tribunal. Beijing rejected the arbitral award in favor of the Philippines.Portions of the strategic waterway, where $3 trillion worth of trade passes annually, are believed to be rich in oil and natural gas deposits, as well as fish stocks.
Hanoi note verbale
Vietnam also sent a note verbale to the secretary general of the United Nations to state Hanoi’s position regarding the Philippines’ similar submission filed last month, the foreign ministry said.
The DFA said the Philippines was ‘ready to engage’ with Hanoi on ‘possible ways forward that would help achieve a mutually beneficial solution to South China Sea issues, in accordance with international law, particularly Unclos’
“Vietnam once again affirms its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos in accordance with international law,” it said. Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), coastal states like the Philippines are entitled to establish the outer limits of its continental shelf, comprising the seabed and the subsoil of submarine areas, beyond its 370-km exclusive economic zone (EEZ) but not exceeding 648 km (350 nm).
On June 14, the Philippines filed a submission before the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) asking the body to establish the Philippine’s ECS in the West Philippine Sea, specifically the western Palawan region.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) took note of Hanoi’s July 17 submission.
“The Philippines affirms its claim to its extended continental shelf in the western Palawan Region consistent with its maritime entitlements under UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), as demonstrated by our ECS submission made on June 14,” the DFA said in a statement on Thursday.
Acknowledgment
“Nevertheless, we acknowledge Vietnam’s right, as a coastal state like the Philippines, to submit information to establish the outer limits of their continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the relevant and lawful baselines from which its territorial sea is measured,” it added.
The DFA said the Philippines was “ready to engage” with Hanoi on “possible ways forward that would help achieve a mutually beneficial solution to South China Sea issues, in accordance with international law, particularly Unclos.”
Besides filing its own extended continental shelf claim on Wednesday, Vietnam also protested against the Philippines’ ECS claim—making it the third country, after China and Malaysia, to reject Manila’s submission.
Hanoi said in a note verbale that it “resolutely rejects” and “cannot accept” the Philippines’ ECS claim, citing overlap with Vietnam’s 370-km continental shelf, which violated its “inherent sovereign rights and jurisdiction.”
But Vietnam reiterated that it was still open to discussing and negotiating the matter with the Philippines, in accordance with Unclos.
It requested the ECS commission to “refrain from considering” the Philippines’ submission “until all the relevant issues have been resolved by Vietnam and the Philippines.”
In a June 27 diplomatic communication, Malaysia’s permanent UN mission said Kuala Lumpur has never recognized the Philippines’ claim to its eastern state of Sabah.
“The Government of Malaysia categorically rejects the Philippines’ Partial Submission on the basis that the Republic of the Philippines’ continental margin is projected from the baselines of the Malaysian state of Sabah,” it said. “This clearly disregards Malaysia’s indisputable sovereignty over the state of Sabah.”
The Malaysian government further appealed to the UN body “not to examine and qualify” the Philippines’ continental shelf claim.
China protest
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Thursday that China opposed and protested against Vietnam’s claims.
He said Vietnam’s ECS “infringes on China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests” and violated international law, including the UN Charter and Unclos, and the bilateral agreement between China and Vietnam on settling their maritime dispute.
Lin also repeated China’s protests against the Philippines’ submission. He said that under CLCS rules, submissions would not be reviewed if there was an existing dispute and the UN body would not evaluate the ECS submissions of Vietnam and the Philippines. “Such submissions do not have any practical effect but will only accentuate differences and exacerbate frictions, which will in no way help resolve the disputes,” Lin said.
But he said China was committed to handling the maritime conflicts through “dialogue and consultation.”
PH bill advances
A bicameral committee of the Philippine Congress on Wednesday approved a proposed law defining the country’s maritime zones and one of the authors of the bill on Thursday said its enactment would strengthen the Philippines’ legal rights in the West Philippine Sea.
Negros Occidental Rep. Francisco “Kiko” Benitez said the proposed Maritime Zones Act would integrate international law into the national framework and delineate the Philippines’ maritime domains, such as internal waters and archipelagic waters, territorial seas, contiguous zones, EEZ and ECS. It would boost the Philippines’ assertion of its maritime entitlements over the West Philippine Sea, Benitez said. —WITH REPORTS FROM REUTERS, CARLA GOMEZ AND INQUIRER RESEARCH
