By Santiago Vitug
To counter China’s aggressive claims in the West Philippine Sea, former Senior Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has three proposals.
In a speech delivered on the 8th anniversary of the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s ruling regarding China’s enforcement of its ten-dash line, he proposed establishing a civilian presence in Ayungin Shoal.
He suggested the construction of a lighthouse and a substation operated by the Philippine Coast Guard, as well as a marine research center run by the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute.
Carpio said this approach could fall under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Tribunal. He argued that if China blocks the delivery of construction materials to Ayungin Shoal, the Philippines could file another arbitration case for violating its exclusive right to erect structures within its exclusive economic zone.
The first proposal of the former justice was part of his broader speech on “Legal Approaches in Countering Chinese Aggression.”
Addressing the status of Ayungin Shoal, Carpio explained that the Arbitral Tribunal previously declined to order China to stop its harassment of Philippine resupply ships to BRP Sierra Madre, citing a lack of jurisdiction. By establishing a civilian presence at Ayungin Shoal, he argued, the Philippines could ensure that activities there fall under the Tribunal’s jurisdiction.
Referencing the 2016 ruling that designated Scarborough Shoal as a traditional common fishing ground for Filipino, Chinese, and Vietnamese fishermen, the former justice’s second proposal is for the Philippines to seek arbitration to establish rules for common fishing at the shoal.
Carpio predicted that China would likely boycott these proceedings, but that the Tribunal would issue an arbitral award favoring the Philippines’ proposed measures.
Emphasizing the need to challenge China’s claims through legal means, Carpio’s third proposal is to file multiple arbitration cases to invalidate China’s so-called ten-dash line.
“Today, China wants to invent another construct, I say good luck to them. The Philippines should proceed with the filing of the foregoing arbitration cases and pile up more arbitral awards against China to bury forever China’s baseless and expansive claim to almost the entire South China Sea,” he said.
“These arbitration cases are peaceful settlement of disputes between states in accordance with the UN Charter and in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” he added.
Carpio noted the Philippine Government’s June 2024 filing before the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf for an extended continental shelf claim beyond the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone off the coast of west Palawan.
China and Malaysia have opposed this claim, but under the Commission’s rules, any resolution to these overlapping claims would need to be settled through negotiation or arbitration. This, according to the former justice, sets the stage for another potential arbitration proceeding against China.
Carpio asserted that China “has no valid claim” to the areas in question, noting that its coastline, measured from Hainan, is more than 350 nautical miles away from the disputed regions involving the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia.
Carpio warned that China continues to construct narratives to justify its expansive claims in the West Philippine Sea. He referred to China’s post-2016 construct, the “Four Shas” or “Four Archipelagos,” which attempts to claim expansive maritime zones for the Spratlys, Paracels, Pratas, and Macclesfield Bank—none of which meet UNCLOS requirements for archipelagos.
“Any new narrative construct that China invents will only be exposed as a fake or contrary to UNCLOS, or even both,” he said, urging the Philippines to continue filing arbitration cases to decisively counter China’s unfounded claims.
Carpio was part of the Philippine delegation that presented the case against China at The Hague in 2014.