David Won versus Goliath!!! This is the result of the much-awaited ruling by the International Arbitral Tribunal on the Case filed by the Philippines to the UN body. The judgement was released last July 12. [Read below a repost from the article written by CNN Philippines Staff]
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — An international panel of judges at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague unanimously ruled on Tuesday in favor of the Philippines in a case against China’s claims to virtually all of the South China Sea.
The five-member Arbitral Tribunal upheld the Manila’s position that China’s “nine-dash line” maritime claim is excessive and encroached into the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Read: Who are the judges of the Arbitral Tribunal?
The “nine-dash line” is China’s purported historical boundary that covers about 85 percent of the South China Sea, including 80 percent of the Philippines’ EEZ in the West Philippine Sea.
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The judges ruled that:
- There was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the “nine-dash line”
- None of the Spratly Islands grant China an EEZ
- The tribunal could — without delimitating a boundary — declare that certain areas in the Spratly Islands are within the Philippines’ EEZ
- China had violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights in its EEZ by interfering with fishing and petroleum exploration, constructing artificial islands, and failing to prevent Chinese fishermen from fishing in the zone
- Chinese authorities did not fulfill their obligation to stop Chinese fishermen from harvesting endangered sea turtles, corals, and giant clams on a substantial scale in the South China Sea
- China’s large-scale land reclamation and construction of artificial islands was incompatible with the obligations on a state during dispute resolution proceedings
[To read the full article, click: http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2016/07/12/PH-wins-maritime-arbitration-case-vs-China.html]
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