Daily Tribune
Proof of trespass A journalist takes a photo of a slideshow of the Philippine Coast Guard at its headquarters on Monday, showing continuing Chinese activities in the Scarborough Shoal, part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the WPS.
JAM STA ROSA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The National Security Council (NSC) on Monday said China has no sovereignty in the high seas, hence, it has “no right to arrest, detain or expel” anyone in the South China Sea.
In a press conference in Manila, NSC Assistant Director-General Jonathan Malaya said China’s plan to implement a detainment policy in the South China Sea was “contrary” to international law, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the United Nations Charter.
“According to China’s latest regulations, they can detain an individual for 30 to 60 days without trial. The regulations cannot apply to the exclusive economic zones of coastal states like Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, or any other country for that matter,” Malaya said.
The 2016 arbitral court ruling nullified China’s claim to the entire SCS, he said.
Hence, the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) has no authority to conduct law enforcement in the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of its neighbors, he pointed out.
According to the Law of the Sea Convention, high seas refers to “all parts of the sea that are not included in the EEZ, in the territorial sea or in the internal waters of a state, or in the archipelagic waters of an archipelagic state.”
Scare tactics
At least 25 percent of the South China Sea is high seas but Beijing has included it in its 10-dash-line claim that covers waters that overlap the Philippines’ EEZ.
“These new Chinese Coast Guard regulations are nothing more than part of China’s scare tactics to intimidate and coerce its Asian neighbors. It is provocative and increases the tensions in the South China Sea,” Malaya said.
The Philippines, he added, will neither be intimidated nor coerced by the CCG.
“We will never succumb to these scare tactics. The Philippines will continue to sail and fish in these waters,” he stressed.
He called on the maritime states, particularly the country’s neighbors Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia, “to ignore these illegal regulations and sail in these waters to the extent that international law allows.”
“By doing so, we register our strong objection to the illegal regulations, which clearly infringe on the rights of other states,” he said.
