In reference the extension of the contenental shelf delimitations which must be filed by the May deadline, the Philippines may file its claim without complete scientific research. If another Nation State disagrees with the filing it would have the right to file a protest. In the event of a dispute the claimants would submit the claims to the UN for adjudication.

China will never agree to submit any dispute to third party adjudication such as the Internation Court of Justice because they would lose and lose big.

In 7 June 1933 China formed the “Land and Water Maps Inspection Committee” for the purpose of revising China’s maps and defining its maritime domain. The Committee arbitrarily drew Nine Dashes on their charts which included the South China Sea down to the 4th degree North Latitude. Once this was done the Chinese government did not comply with customary maritime law by disclosing the claims to the world. No mention of the Nine Dash lines was made until the 1970s when China realized it needed to start importing oil. The rest is current history. China has used its military might to intimidate the other four claimants and has actually engaged in gun battles with the Philippines and Vietnam.

The Nine Dash claim included the Malampaya and Camago natural gas and condensate fields.

China realized it could not engage in on-going gun battles with the other claimants or submit the issue to the UN so the strategy shifted to bilateral negotiations with the other claimants. Since Viethnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines had/have no military to fight the Chinese, the PRC choose to buy compliance so they could have the resources they needed – so we have China negotiatng bilateral agreements and using money as the lever.

China has stated and will continue to state that it will not negotiate it claims to the formations in the Spartlys. The constant use of the term “indisputable claim” is intended to convince uninformed people that China has the rights to the formations in dispute.

China does not have an “indisputable claim.”

The Philippines must draft and pass a second bill in the form of an addition to the Baseline Bill that provides for Baselines around the “regime of islands” and define claims for the extension of the Contenental Shelf.

Yes the Chinese could attack the Philippines but lest we forget if a sympathetic world in Europe, Latin America and the United States stopped buying Chinese products, China would collapse economically in one month. Perhaps the Chinese will just continue buying its way into favorable treaty positions.

Magandang Umaga!

We only have banca there as means of military superiority over Vietnam and China.

We have potential millions-of-barrels of oil in Tanon strait between Cebu and Negros and they had it stopped because they want to protect the habitat of the dolphins instead of the lives of the children and the Filipinos.

Duh!

As a dear friend likes to say, in a classic situation where corruption is frowned upon, the bribe giver and bribe taker are both transgressing the law.

But it may seem in our crooked times, what is legal is what corrupt people get away with :)

MK,

This claim if sincerely pursued in a mutually agreed, equitable and within the frame of international law could be resoled to everyone’s mutual satisfaction.

But that an ideal scenario.

As in any negotiation, ang iba kapag di magkasundo nagsusuntukan na lang.

Ayaw natin humantong rito.

Si Manny Pacquiao di naman diplomat. :)

But since the bill is signed already, mag-putok na lang ang butse nila. I don’t think they’ll now provide GMA the favor to have a photo-op with Barack by attacking the Philippines, heheh.