Right over Might

China is trampling not only the Philippines’ right to its 370-km exclusive economic zone, but also the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) that guarantees the same.

This was the position raised by the Philippine panel led by Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario in asking the five-member Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague to assume jurisdiction over the case.

The Philippines maintained that it was not raising sovereignty issues before the said court but only China’s incursion and building of artificial islands in the exclusive Philippine economic zone.

Based on the UNCLOS, every country has exclusive economic right 370 kilometers out into the sea from its coastlines.

The Philippines has filed the case under the UNCLOS’ dispute resolution mechanism, underscoring its “conviction that principles trump power, that law triumphs over force, and that right prevails over might.” -End-

Image by: Manila Bulletin