By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
Two weeks after the Permanent Court of Arbitration, a UN-backed tribunal based in the Netherlands, decided in favor of the Philippine suit, China is still preventing Filipino fishermen to go near Panatag/Scarborough.
Of course one of the salient part of the verdict is that Panatag Shoal area should be free for all fishermen from various nationalities. I don’t exactly agree with this, the Shoal being recognized as within the 200-mile EEZ of the Philippines.
The fact is that it was a traditional fishing ground of Filipino fishermen. Other nationalities like the Chinese were recent “intruders”. The fact now is that China doesn’t want to relinquish their control of the Shoal which they seized from the Philippines in 2012 which precipitated the legal suit from the Philippines. After that year, they shooed away Filipino fishermen using water cannon and other means while their own fishermen lustily frolicked on the abundant fish there.
When the PCA decision came out last July 12, Weibo, the popular Chinese social network, immediately “exploded with angry publications”. The people strongly urged one another to fight for their rights in South China Sea, including Panatag Shoal. The Chinese government was so efficient in indoctrinating their people even about their imagined ownership of the SCS. Everybody there experienced hallucination about it. Contrast that with the timid and late campaign waged locally by the DFA.
Filipinos in the know everywhere-including in the Cordillera region, were jubilant but cautious at the same time. Is it possible to implement the decision since it is final, non-appealable, implementable and legally binding?
The collective angry reaction of their countrymen may have emboldened Chinese officials to ignore the decision, brand it as irresponsible and therefore they can not accept it. In the first place, they aver that sovereignty issues are not within the jurisdiction of the PCA. And, according to them, they have historic sovereignty over almost the entire SCS, West Philippine Sea being a part of it.
China’s reaction to the decision was expected, vowing to defend their sovereignty and security interests at all costs. “Don’t Accept, Don’t Participate, Don’t Recognise, Don’t Implement!,” said a slogan shared on the People’s Daily of China.
Many countries such as the U.S., Australia, France, Canada, Japan and India urged China to abide by the PCA’s decision and stop strong-arm tactics in the West Philippine Sea. China is not budging citing the case of the United States against Nicaragua in 1986. In said case, the US. mined harbors of Nicaragua which was then waging a civil war. Nicaragua lodged a protest to the International Court of Justice which eventually found the American activities as illegal and should pay reparations to the former. The Americans refused.
On the part of Russia, when it annexed Crimea from Ukraine very recently it was asked by the U.N. to withdraw. It did not, that’s why the Crimean question is still smoldering at the moment. Russia did not comment on the decision but hinted that if China will show support to Russia on the Crimean adventure, it hinted that it may side with it on the SCS issue.
The rigid con-compliance stance of China is a recipe for isolation in the international community, according to many experts. But this statement will not carry a lot of weight at the moment. Good diplomacy should now carry the day as China, the fast emerging superpower has to save face. All peaceful means should be explored along this line. I don’t think China will forever hold on to an unfriendly demeanor as the world is watching.
It is said that the ruling is implementable. But who will implement it? It is not clear. It is only hoped that China will abide by the decision. But as things stand now, it will take a gargantuan effort by all concerned countries in order for the ruling to see its rightful conclusion.
Maybe it’s about time that the United Nations will come up with concrete plans on how to implement its decisions so that big countries like China, Russia and the U.S. will be forced to follow whatever is the decision arrived at. Then small countries like the Philippines can look for comfort from the international body.
Meantime, there is no other recourse but for the Philippines to develop a credible self-defense force to prevent incursions inside our territory. Just look at what Indoneisa had done recently when China tried to force itself near its remote islands in the SCS.
**
