No Sovereignty Issue was addressed by the PCA in its Ruling

The Seal of the PCA, from Wikimedia Commons

Bobi Tiglao broke down some of the important points of the Ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in a recent Article of his. Below is a summary of those points: 

* No Sovereignty Issue was addressed by the PCA’s Ruling. From the PCA itself: “The Convention…does not address the Sovereignty of States over Land Territory. Accordingly, this Tribunal does not purport to make any ruling as to which State enjoys Sovereignty over any Land Territory in the South China Sea, in particular with respect to the disputes concerning Sovereignty over the Spratly Islands or Scarborough Shoal.”

* The Ruling affirmed that our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) encompasses the Mischief Reef and Second Thomas Shoal areas as well as the Reed Bank, but it didn’t declare our other claimed areas as within our EEZ. 

* Having the Spratly Islands encompassed by our EEZ did not negate China’s claims of those Islands as part of their Sovereign Territory.

* Scarborough Shoal is a Traditional Fishing Ground for Fishermen of many Nationalities, not just the Philippines.

‘China’s Claims’

Tiglao also clearly explained China’s Claims in the South China Sea (SCS), the important points of which are: 

* The “Nine-Dash Line” is NOT China’s basis for their Claims in the SCS. In fact, they did not even mention it in their responses when the Philippines filed the Arbitration Case and when the PCA released their Ruling.

* China’s claim on the Spratly Islands and two other Island Groups is in the SCS are based on the fact that they had recognized these as theirs before World War Two (WW2) and formalized these Claims with Laws and Administrative Orders after WW2.

‘My Notes’

It was Abnoy Panot's Philippine side which raised the issue of China’s “Nine-Dash Line” to the PCA, but as Tiglao said, China did not mention it in their responses to the PCA. 

SOURCE: Locsin so patently ignorant about Arbitration Suit {Archived Link}

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