Phl firming up stance vs China’s new map

The Philippines will continue to defend its sovereignty and territorial rights after China released a "new" map that claims the entire South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday.

In an interview with reporters in Palawan, Marcos said the Philippines is still developing a formal response to China's expanded 10-dash line map. The government, he added, has long upheld the country's territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea.

The President's late father and namesake, during his own presidency, established the municipality of Kalayaan in Palawan to uphold the Philippines' territorial rights in the region.

Despite other countries continuing to assert their claims in the region aggressively, Marcos said the Philippines "has not changed its approach" to its territory in the resource-rich South China Sea.

"It is other countries around us that have changed their approach. We have received the news that the 9-dash line has been extended to the 10-dash line," the President told reporters.

"And we will have to respond to all of this, and we will. But again, these are operational details I prefer not to talk about," he added.

When asked whether the Philippines will step up its response in the West Philippine Sea, Marcos said he was also counting on the backing of the international community since the Philippines "has stayed true" to the rules-based international law, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS.

"I think it puts us on very solid ground in terms of our claims for territorial sovereignty, for maritime territory," Marcos said. "This has been validated and supported by many, many countries around the world, and we should take strength in that."

The nine-dash line claim of China was declared legally infirm in a final ruling in 2016 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Beijing has refused to recognize the arbitral ruling.

Trillions of dollars in trade pass through the South China Sea each year, the reason the United States has been holding freedom of navigation patrols in the area to stop what it described as China's harassment of vessels and planes passing through or over international waters.

Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan have territorial claims in the South China Sea, which overlaps with the WPS. The same arbitral court recognized the Philippines as having valid and legal exclusive economic zone rights in the WPS.

@tribunephl_tiz @tribunephl_Lade