15-6-2024 (MANILA)Â In a bold move aimed at asserting its maritime rights, the Philippine government has filed a claim with the United Nations to establish its exclusive entitlement to an extended continental shelf (ECS) in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, a region that has been a longstanding source of tension and confrontation with China.
The filing, announced on Saturday by Marshall Louis Alferez, the Assistant Secretary for Maritime and Ocean Affairs at the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, represents a significant step in the nation’s efforts to secure its future interests in the resource-rich maritime territory.
“Today, we secure our future by making a manifestation of our exclusive right to explore and exploit natural resources in our ECS entitlement,” Alferez declared in a statement, underscoring the profound implications of the move.
The South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which an estimated $3 trillion worth of global trade passes annually, has been at the center of a complex and escalating dispute between multiple nations, including the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. At the heart of the conflict lies China’s sweeping claim to almost the entire region, a stance that has been repeatedly challenged by its maritime neighbors and international legal bodies.
In a landmark ruling in 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague found China’s expansive claims to have no legal basis, a decision that Beijing has defiantly rejected. Nonetheless, the ruling has provided a legal foundation for other nations to assert their rights within the contested waters.
China’s embassy in Manila has yet to respond to the Philippines’ latest filing, but the move is expected to further strain the already tense relations between the two nations.
The Philippines’ claim specifically seeks to establish its entitlement to an extended continental shelf in the West Palawan Region, a strategically significant area facing the South China Sea. The submission, which follows a comprehensive technical and scientific study of the continental shelf in the region, has been approved by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., signaling the government’s unwavering commitment to safeguarding its maritime interests.
By invoking the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Philippines aims to establish the outer limits of its continental shelf, encompassing the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas up to 350 nautical miles from its coastline. This move comes after the UN previously confirmed the Philippines’ entitlement to the Benham Rise, an undersea plateau off the nation’s east coast that is not contested by China.
