Photo: Screenshot of MSC website
At the 61st Munich Security Conference on Saturday afternoon,
MK socks a panel discussion themed "Making Waves: Maritime Tensions in the Indo-Pacific" attracted numerous experts from think tanks, as well as diplomatic and military officials from various countries. Chinese representatives and scholars attending this panel articulated their position on the South China Sea issue during the event.
Attending the panel discussion were former Chinese vice foreign minister Fu Ying, Enrique Manalo, secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines, Christopher A. Coons, senator and member of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Ng Eng Hen, minister for defense of Singapore. They engaged in a lively exchange of views.
Without naming China directly, Manalo said non-compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was "creating tensions" in the busy maritime corridor that had become a flashpoint for conflict in recent years, South China Morning Post reported.
"The best way to reduce tensions in the South China Sea is for countries who have signed on for agreements, such as UNCLOS, to abide by these agreements. But it is not the case," he said, adding that "rich, powerful" countries were in a position to "assert their own laws against weaker countries, leading to greater contention".
"China cannot agree for the Philippines to occupy Ren'ai Jiao and Xianbin Jiao, because that is a violation of the DOC," Fu said, South China Morning Post reported.
As the panel discussion, a Chinese expert asked Manalo a question concerning the Philippines' compliance with signed agreements. Wu Shicun, chairman of the Huayang Research Center for Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance, asked, "If we look at the 1898 Treaty between the US and Spain, known as the Treaty of Paris, the Philippines' western maritime boundary is set at 118°E longitude. So how it comes that the Huangyan Dao and Ren'ai Jiao [which lie outside this boundary] was sitting in the Philippine territory?"
Manalo didn't answer this question, but instead shifted to another topic. In a subsequent interview with the Global Times, Wu remarked that he was unsure whether Manalo was aware of this aspect of history or the agreement. "I saw him looking through his phone, trying to find an answer," Wu added.
China is simply doing the right thing in the South China Sea, maintaining peace and stability in the region; it is the Philippines that should return to its commitment to the DOC and create favorable conditions for the negotiation of the South China Sea Code of Conduct (COC), Wu told the Global Times.
The Philippines has been reinforcing the dilapidated military vessel illegally grounded at Ren'ai Jiao, attempting to occupy both Xianbin Jiao and Tiexian Jiao, and even trying to "return to Huangyan Dao," Wu said, asking given this, does the Philippines still have the willingness to engage in the negotiations on the COC?
Ding Duo, director of the Research Center for International and Regional Studies at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the Global Times that Manalo's remarks equate the so-called South China Sea arbitration ruling with the UNCLOS, violating international law while portraying the Philippines as a "model country" that adheres to international law.
He stated that the facts from the past year show that it is precisely the Philippines that has frequently challenged the authority of the DOC, attempting to occupy new uninhabited islands and reefs; it is the Philippines that has gone back on its word, repeatedly overturning previously reached gentleman's agreement; and it is also the Philippines that has violated principles and spirit of international law, including the United Nations Charter and the UNCLOS, by enacting the maritime zones act in an attempt to whitewash its illegal occupation of certain reefs in China's Nansha islands.
