PH’s rejected protests vs China can be used as evidence before UN court MANILA, Philippines – The diplomatic protests that the Philippines has filed against China, despite being flatly rejected, can still be used as documentary evidence in the arbitration case before the United Nations (UN) court, an international law expert said. Philippines has filed several protests against China over the Scarborough Shoal standoff in April 2012, the water cannon incident also in Scarborough this January 2014, and the expulsion incident in Ayungin Shoal last March 9. All protests were rejected by China, insisting that the entire South China Sea, including portions of the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), is an inherent part of its national territory. “The importance of the diplomatic protest is it just goes to show that there are continuing violations by China … we can use these as pieces of evidence of continued violations by China of our EEZ,” Gilbert Andres, a member of the Center for International Law in the Philippines, said in a phone interview with INQUIRER.net. “Actually our case is already strong, but [the protests are] additional evidence of continued violation. It is documentary evidence that’s why we are filing these diplomatic protests, although we expect China to disregard it,” he said. Last January 27, Filipino fishermen were driven away from Scarborough shoal, also known as Panatag Shoal and Bajo de Masinloc, by the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) using water cannons. On March 9, two civilian vessels contracted by the Philippine Navy to conduct troop rotation and resupply operations in Ayungin were followed, blocked, and then told to leave by the CCG. The two most recent incidents show China increasing aggressiveness in asserting control over the South China Sea.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 08:16:10 +0000
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