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. s it really worth claiming for based on these reason!
The Scarborough Shoal, also "nown as #a$o de %asinloc during the Spanish colonial rule or
&uangyan island according to #ei$ing, is an uninhabited roc"y outcrop located about ''( "m )est
of Palauig, *ambales and almost +,,(( "m away from the nereast Chinese coast. #ased on this
statement, the Philippines has a lot more $urisdiction to claiming the island because of its
pro-imity from the nearest coast. Also, the ./ Convention on the 0aw of the Seas1.nclos2 allows
states to draw baselines along the low water mar" sorrounding a coastal state. The new 3ones of
limited $urisdictions includes the e-clusive economic 3one which is '(( nautical miles. The waters
in the Scarborough Shoal are +'( nautical miles off the *ambales mainland, or within our
e-clusive economic 3one. There are also written proofs of the island being a fisihing area or the
4ilipinos in the Spanish colonial rule. 5uring those days, it has been a sanctuary for most
fishermen of *ambales when they are ashore and the weather becomes unsafe. There was also a
map s"etched showing the island and being depicted with a different name aside fom #a$o de
%asinloc.
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. &owever, for the past years, the uni6ue 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 $ust the Philippines, but also other countries to
fuel its economy.
The issue of territorial and maritime claims has worsen because of sudden and inappropriate
actions from both sides hat led to a mutual animosity that %anila and #ei$ing are still struggling to
bury under the rug. There is this standoff of the Philippine /avy sending a marine surveillance
ship and China sending two other ships as well, plus another one when the Philippines7 withdrew
to refuel. /ot only the government reacted to this but also 4ilipinos community groups abroad.
This resulted to a very unli"ely dismissals of Philippines pardons to China to tal" it over between
the two. 8e6uests of settling the issue between the two countries are always being denied by
China aside from the calamity in %indanao that postponed one of the re6uests to happen. This also
includes the incidents during tthe AS9A/ 4oreign %inisters7 %eeting in Cambodia. Also, it was
said that it was possible that President A6uino7s invitation was turned down by Chinese President
&u :intao after A6uino ordered the official use of the name ;)est Philippine Sea; to reffer to
maritime areas surrounding territories claimed by the Philippines, a move resented by #ei$ing and
defended by %anila. China also refused to go to international court and settle the issue through the
$udicial resolution provision in the .nclos.
The Philippine government has made a move that helped mend the ties when 50< Secretary
%ar 8o-as was nominated by the President to meet Chinese =ice President and leader>in>waiting
?i :inping in China when the snub had deeply impacted the administration. Also, thin"ing about
the tne guidlines in the .nclos about the baselines, the Philippines has a good starting point. t is
$ust 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, $ustify
our claims under the present international law and not on merely citing the shape or date of old
maps.