PHL Vows to Destroy China’s Arguments on Oral Hearing at The Hague

With a high profile and fully-equipped team of experts from Manila, the Philippines promises to destroy China’s strongest arguments on the week-long oral hearing.

The week-long oral argument about whether the arbitral tribunal at The Hague has the right to hear the Philippine side will begin tomorrow, July 7, 2015. The Philippines is in full force to deliver its claim against China.

China has reiterated that the arbitral tribunal at The Hague, The Netherlands, has no right to hear the Philippines’ case. China, in other words, is questioning the tribunal’s jurisdiction.

The communist country said it will not honor any decision made by other parties (even the United Nations), and keep pushing the Philippines for a bilateral talk without any precondition.

The Philippines on the other hand refuses to the said talk citing that whatever the result will be, China’s stand on claiming the whole South China Sea will not change. The Philippines saw that the bilateral talk will not make any sense at all, so it brought the case to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Although it said that it will not honor the UN’s decision, China on the other hand is working under the table.

Japan Times reported that China is lobbying the UN Tribunal on Manila’s claim. This means that China is concerned about the tribunal’s decision if in case it favors Manila.

While legally binding, any decision that favors the Philippines would be unenforceable because there is no U.N. body to police such rulings, legal experts said.

Nevertheless, such a ruling would be a diplomatic blow to Beijing and might prompt other claimants to the South China Sea to take similar action, legal experts and diplomats said.

The case is being closely watched by Asian governments and Washington given rising tensions in the South China Sea, especially in the Spratly archipelago, where China is creating seven artificial islands that will allow its navy to project power deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.

A Manila victory could hit big on China, not only politically, but also morally.

China will be labelled as “land grabber” who refuses to return the land even after proven guilty.

/Oto Melara/ 

 

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