In a new twist this week to the stand-off
between China and the Philippines at Scarborough Shoal, 66 Vietnamese, many of
them well-known public figures in Vietnam and within the Vietnamese Diaspora, signed
a letter to the Philippine Ambassador in Vietnam to express support
for the Philippines’ “sovereign rights” in the continuing stand-off. The main
points of the letter are:
1)
Support for the “sovereign rights” of the Philippines in the Scarborough Shoal.
2)
Opposition to China’s use of the “nine-dashed line” to make overlapping
claims with the Exclusive Economic Zones and continental shelves of the
Philippines, Vietnam and other ASEAN countries, as well as opposition to
“China’s actions and threats of force,” the latter presumably referring to articles in China’s state controlled
press.
3)
Support for the Philippines’ proposal to submit the dispute at Scarborough Shoal
to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
The
first interesting thing about the letter, to which I am a signatory, is that
while supporting the Philippines, the letter stops short of taking sides on the
question of sovereignty over the rocks at Scarborough Shoal. What it supports
the Philippines on is the question of “sovereign rights,” which isn’t
sovereignty over islands and rocks, but rights over the Exclusive Economic Zone
(EEZ) and continental shelf.
Does it
make legal sense to support the Philippines on the question of rights over the
EEZ and continental shelf without taking sides on the question of sovereignty
over the rocks? Don’t the rights over the EEZ and continental shelf depend on
sovereignty over territories, including islands and rocks? The answer lies in
the fact that the rocks at Scarborough Shoal aren’t the only territories in
this area; there’s also Luzon Island. It’s possible to argue that these rocks
aren’t entitled to an EEZ beyond 12 nautical miles, therefore the EEZ in this
area belongs to Luzon Island, regardless of whether the rocks belong to China
or the Philippines, and regardless of the fact that they are disputed
territory.
It’s
evident that while both Vietnam and the Philippines feel most threatened by China’s
“nine-dashed line,” those countries also feel that this line has a legal
Achilles’ heel, which they seek to target with the concepts of UNCLOS such as
EEZ, and of maritime delimitations, arguing that regardless of which country
owns an island or rock, and of the fact that it might be disputed territory,
the EEZ in certain areas belongs to larger landmasses.
The
second interesting thing is that whoever drafted the letter chose not to use
the conventional international name of “South China Sea.” Instead, they chose
to use a combination of the Filipino and Vietnamese names, “West Philippine
Sea/East Sea.” Are we about to see something similar to South Korea’s challenge
to the conventional name “Sea of Japan”?
However,
most interesting of all is the fact that this is the first time ever that
members of the public in a country involved in the South China Sea disputes
have expressed support for another in this way.
Still,
perhaps this move shouldn’t come as a complete surprise given that in recent
years most of the incidents in the South China Sea involve either China and
Vietnam or China and the Philippines. With a common legal argument and facing a
common, but much larger, opponent, there will likely be a tendency for the
Vietnamese and the Filipinos to move towards a strategy
of mutual support in the future.
Huy
Duong contributes articles on the South China Sea to several news outlets
including the BBC and Vietnam's online publication VietNamNet.
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programmes. Many thanks for visiting www.yourvietnamexpert.com and/or contacting us at contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
No comments:
Post a Comment