‘Talks with China must be based on international law’

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines remains keen on having talks with China on the South China Sea dispute, but any negotiation should be consistent with the Constitution and international law, Malacañang said yesterday.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the Philippines would consider the views of its allies in its engagements with China, whose expansive territorial claim in the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea was voided by an international court last week.

Abella said the Philippines’ sovereign economic rights under international law are “non-negotiable.”

“The Philippines continues along a diplomatic path to fully realize the EEZ (exclusive economic zone) rights granted by the arbitration court, engaging in bilateral talks to find mutually acceptable arrangements to the Philippines and China and consulting with our regional allies,” Abella said in a statement.

“Engagement with China through bilateral talks towards the peaceful resolution of the issue must be compliant with the Constitution, international law and the rule of law,” he added.

Last July 12, the Philippines scored a historic legal victory when the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled against China’s nine-dash-line territorial claim and reaffirmed Manila’s sovereign rights over Panganiban (Mischief) Reef, Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal and Recto (Reed) Bank, in Palawan. However, the tribunal declared Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal off Zambales a traditional fishing ground for Filipinos and Chinese as well as fishermen from nearby countries.

China claims historic rights over about 90 percent of the South China Sea, a busy sea lane through which about $5 trillion in trade passes every year. The sweeping territorial claim is also being contested by Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

China rejected the tribunal’s landmark ruling, calling it “illegal from the very beginning.” Chinese officials also insisted the court decision would not diminish China’s territorial sovereignty in the South China Sea.

A week after the ruling was released, a US congressional delegation made a courtesy call on President Duterte in Malacañang.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a member of the delegation, said the President had assured them that Philippine territorial rights are non-negotiable.

“In Manila – just out of meeting w new Philippines President Duterte. Assured us he has no plans to negotiate w China over islands dispute,” he said on Twitter.

“We were first US elected officials to meet with Duterte. (He) says he will not trade territorial rights to China. Tribunal decision non-negotiable,” Murphy said on Twitter Tuesday night.

The US has said it is not taking sides in the maritime row but cited the need for parties to maintain freedom of navigation and stability in the area.

Aside from Murphy, other US lawmakers who met with Duterte were Sen. Brian Schatz, Rep. Ted Deutch, Rep. Donna Edwards and Rep. John Garamendi.

With them during the courtesy call was US Ambassador Philip Goldberg.

Philippine officials present were Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez and Defense Assistant Secretary Raymund Jose Quilop.

Prospects of bilateral talks with China dimmed after the latter demanded as condition the exclusion of the tribunal ruling from the discussions.

Yasay said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi raised such condition on the sidelines of the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit in Mongolia over the weekend.

“They had asked us also to open ourselves for bilateral negotiations but outside of and disregard of the arbitral ruling. So this is something that I told him was not consistent with our Constitution and our national interest,” Yasay said in an interview on ANC’s “Headstart.”  

Yasay said he told his Chinese counterpart the condition was unacceptable.

Former defense secretary Eduardo Ermita said China’s setting a condition was part of its diplomatic tack. “That’s what we call in the school of diplomacy, the diplomatic upperhand,” Ermita said, adding that there was nothing wrong with Beijing’s setting a condition.

Another former defense chief, Gilberto Teodoro Jr., in an article in The Diplomat likened bilateral talks with China to a poker game where the richer player keeps on raising the stakes until the opponent folds.

“It is precisely in bilateral negotiations where standards such as rule of law, fairness and equality can be jeopardized by might, size and wealth,” Teodoro said.

He added solutions reached through closed bilateral negotiations are oftentimes ad hoc concessions, which may not crystalize into institutions and norms that would be acceptable to later generations.

He said the global community should take steps to convince China to work within process and find reasonable and fair means of redress.

“Only through sincere cooperation and friendly encouragement can this ever be achieved. Yet should states stand idly by and let this momentous occasion lapse, throwing the award into the proverbial ‘dustbin’ and the world will have lost a valuable opportunity to strengthen the role of institutions  and the rule of law by letting the whims of leaders and the caprice of self-righteousness hold sway,” Teodoro said. – With Pia Lee-Brago, Jaime Laude