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West Philippine Sea Dispute Analysis

The Philippines initiated international arbitration against China in 2013 regarding their territorial and maritime dispute in the West Philippine Sea. The Philippines took legal action after increasing aggressive behavior from China, including a tense standoff in 2012 over access to Scarborough Shoal. The Philippines asserts that China's nine-dash line claim interferes with their rights under UNCLOS to their exclusive economic zone. They also argue that several small coral features occupied by China are at best low tide elevations within the Philippines' continental shelf or international waters.

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Lady Diane Lumague
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53 views1 page

West Philippine Sea Dispute Analysis

The Philippines initiated international arbitration against China in 2013 regarding their territorial and maritime dispute in the West Philippine Sea. The Philippines took legal action after increasing aggressive behavior from China, including a tense standoff in 2012 over access to Scarborough Shoal. The Philippines asserts that China's nine-dash line claim interferes with their rights under UNCLOS to their exclusive economic zone. They also argue that several small coral features occupied by China are at best low tide elevations within the Philippines' continental shelf or international waters.

Uploaded by

Lady Diane Lumague
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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PERFORMANCE TASK #2 – CASELLETE

The West Philippine Sea is the part of the South China Sea that belongs to the
Philippines but China is claiming it as its own. Tensions have been high over the past
weeks because of Chinese militarization of the area and the continued swarming of
Chinese vessels despite repeated calls by Philippine officials for them to leave the area.
Does China own West Philippine Sea?
West Philippine Sea is the official designation by the Philippine government of
eastern parts of the South China Sea which are included in the Philippines' exclusive
economic zone.
On 22 January 2013 the Philippines initiated international arbitration against the
People’s Republic of China (China) regarding its territorial and maritime dispute in the
South China Sea – known as the West Philippine Sea in Manila.1 It was a bold move
which has been labeled a “game changer” in the continuing saga of longstanding
conflicting claims in the South China Sea.2 The Philippines decided to take legal action
after a series of increasing aggressive behavior and provocative actions on the part of
China. This included a tense standoff in April 2012 between the Philippines and China
over access to Scarborough Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc) which brought tensions in the
South China Sea to their highest level since the 1994 Mischief Reef incident.
The Philippines asserts that China’s claim to “sovereignty” and “sovereign rights”
over the maritime area within its so-called “nine dash line” encompassing around 80 per
cent of the entire South China Sea has interfered with the rights of the Philippines under
the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) over its own exclusive
economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf.3 In addition, according to the Philippines,
China has seized control and occupied several small, uninhabitable coral projections,
submerged features and protruding rocks barely above water at high tide.4 The
Philippines also asserts that China has claimed maritime zones surrounding these
features greater than 12 nautical miles from which it has excluded the Philippines despite
these waters being located within Philippine eez or in international waters.5 These
features include Mischief Reef, McKennan Reef, Gaven Reef and Subi Reef, which, in
the view of the Philippines, are at best low tide elevations and part of the Philippine
continental shelf or the international seabed.6 The Philippines alleges further that China
has also seized the following features in the Spratly Islands: Johnson Reef, Cuarteron
Reef and Fiery Cross Reef, which it considers as “submerged reefs with no more than a
few rocks protruding above sea level at high tide.”7 In essence, the Philippines is arguing,
first, that these submerged features in the South China Sea which are not above sea level
at high tide, are not islands under the Convention

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