No ending brawl

     It is clearly stated in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), in which both China and Philippines are signatories that the Scarborough Shoal is under the Philippine sovereignty providing 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

     However on Aug. 25, 2006, Beijing declared that China does not recognized any territorial and maritime disputes under the said convention. This implies, indeed, that there are neither laws nor treaties in which both countries concurred until now.

     Through a discreet action, in which we are really pleased for, President Aquino and DFA Secretary Del Rosario broadcasted their desire to have a peaceful solution regarding the island dispute where Philippines just made UNCLOS as the foundation of its claim of the shoal in which China has rejected.

image source: www.aljazeera.com

     China, on the other hand, just made a childish-like resolution on the issue— “The only way the Scarborough issue can be resolved is for the Philippines to surrender all sovereignty over it to China.” As said by Hong Lei, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

     Yet, China has the sovereignty if we based our assumptions on the historical side of the claim. In 1935, the government of China considered the shoal as part of the Zhongsha Islands and claimed as part of their territory. And on which the 1978 map of the Philippines featured that Scarborough as not part of its territory and Presidential Decree No. 1596 limit its claim to the Kalayaan islands only.

     To précis the argument with a question, “How can we solve this kind of squabble if there is no concrete agreement between the said countries involved?”

     Simple! Both countries must talk through diplomatic actions not through sending military vessels to only show that they have the guts to fight for a shoal that until today, no solutions at all.    

-Mateo