Manila files South China Sea claim

By Richard Heydarian 

MANILA - After a year of futile diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the South China Sea disputes, the Philippines has risked permanent estrangement with China by pressing ahead this week with an unprecedented arbitration case before a United Nations court at The Hague, while ironing out a new security pact with the United States. 

The primary goal of the Philippines' latest maneuver is to put maximum pressure on China amid an intensifying territorial dispute, which has raised fears of direct military conflict. Manila has been alarmed by the increasing assertiveness of Chinese paramilitary vessels, which have reportedly harassed Filipino fishermen straddling the South China Sea as well as threatened

Filipino troops stationed across varying disputed features in the area. 

In the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, for instance, recent weeks saw Chinese paramilitary forces imposing a tightening siege on Filipino troops, who have struggled to receive supply materials from their military command headquarters in the Philippines. 

Since 1999, the Philippines has exercised effective and continuous control over the disputed feature, which falls well within the country's 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). But China is seemingly bent on seizing control of the shoal, which is very close to the hydrocarbon-rich waters off the coast of the southwestern Philippine island of Palawan. 

From the perspective of the Filipino leadership, China is not only threatening the country's territorial integrity, but also its vital economic and energy security interests in the South China Sea. In addition, the Philippines and its principal military ally, the United States, share similar concerns over China's accelerated military spending. Beijing has focused on enhancing the country's naval capabilities, part of China's short-term goal of consolidating its territorial claims in the Western Pacific - and its long-term ambition of becoming the preeminent naval power in Asia. 

"We will resolutely safeguard China's sovereignty, security and development interests," Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said at the opening session of the National People's Congress in early March. "We will comprehensively enhance the revolutionary nature of the Chinese armed forces, further modernize them and upgrade their performance, and continue to raise their deterrence and combat capabilities in the information age." 

Recognizing the apparent futility of existing diplomatic efforts, Philippine President Benigno Aquino effectively abandoned his earlier attempts at reviving bilateral channels of communication with the top Chinese leadership when he chose to provocatively liken China to "Nazi Germany". 

"At what point do you say: 'Enough is enough'? Well, the world has to say it. Remember that the Sudetenland was given in an attempt to appease Hitler to prevent World War II," exclaimed Aquino, during an exclusive interview with the New York Times, where he compared China's rising territorial ambitions in the South China Sea to Nazi Germany's annexation of the then Czechoslovakian territory in the early 20th century. 

China was outraged by Aquino's comments, dismissing him as an "amateurish" leader with little appreciation for the delicate art of diplomacy and conflict management. At this point, there seemed little goodwill left for resuscitating frayed bilateral relations. 

With diplomacy taking the back seat, the Philippines has stepped up its efforts to welcome a greater American military presence on its soil. Under the proposed Enhanced Defense Cooperation, the Philippines is offering the US expanded access to its military bases in Subic and Clark. In exchange, the Philippines is seeking enhanced US military aid, increased joint military exercises, and, potentially, even temporary access to American military hardware to counter China's maritime assertiveness. 

"The proposed agreement will allow the sharing of defined areas within certain AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] facilities with elements of the US military on a rotational basis within parameters consistent with the Philippine Constitution and laws," explained the Philippine Department of National Defense, which has strongly lobbied for deeper military relations with Washington in order to enhance the country's "minimum deterrence capability". 

The Philippines' direct legal challenge to China's sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea, however, is the greatest source of tension in bilateral relations. In early 2013, the Philippines initiated an ambitious arbitration case at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) at The Hague, with the explicit aim of undermining China's notorious "Nine-dash line" doctrine, which accords Beijing "inherent" and "indisputable" sovereignty over the bulk of the South China Sea. 

The Philippines contends that China, as a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is obliged to respect the Philippines' rights to exercise qualified control over features that fall within its 200-nautical mile EEZ. These include, among other features, not only the Second Thomas Shoal, but also the Scarborough Shoal, which was effectively seized by China after a brief military standoff in mid-2012. 

In early 2014, China reportedly offered certain "carrots" in exchange for the Philippines' decision to postpone its submission of its formal written complaint - known as "memorial" in legal parlance - at the ITLOS. Beijing reportedly offered, among other things, mutual disengagement from the contested features such as the Scarborough Shoal, trade and investment benefits, and postponement of the planned Chinese imposition of an air defense identification Zone in the South China Sea. 

The more hardline factions within the Philippine leadership reportedly refused to entertain China's offer, and convinced the Aquino administration to push ahead with the arbitration move. 

"It is about securing our children's future. It is about guaranteeing freedom of navigation for all nations," said Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, who oversaw the filing on March 30 of a voluminous memorial against China at ITLOS. "It is about helping to preserve regional peace, security and stability. And finally, it is about seeking not just any kind of resolution but a just and durable solution grounded [in] international law." 

The Philippines hopes that its latest legal challenge to China will rally like-minded countries such as Vietnam and Japan as well as the broader international community behind its own cause. But the Philippines' latest decision runs the risk of irreversibly antagonizing China, which could, in turn, permanently undermine diplomatic efforts at peacefully resolving the South China Sea disputes and pave the way for a military showdown.