For South China Sea claimants, a legal venue to battle China

**Retz** · February 14th, 2014 10:27 AM

For South China Sea claimants, a legal venue to battle China

HONG KONG (Reuters) - When Philippine President Benigno Aquino compared China to the Germany of 1938 and called for global support as his country battles Beijing's claims in the South China Sea, he put the focus on a case that Manila has filed in an international court.

The Philippines has taken its dispute with China to arbitration under the United Nations' Convention on the Law of the Sea and its lawyers say that the tribunal has discretionary powers to allow other states to join the action.

China is refusing to participate and has already warned Vietnam against joining the case being heard at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, sources have said. Hanoi has so far kept its options open.

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Yahoo!

Yahoo!

**badkuk** · February 14th, 2014 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by Retz

Yahoo!

"has already warned Vietnam against joining the case". Wow.

**ADAA73** · February 16th, 2014 07:11 AM

what hold has China over Vietnam for it to follow China's warning?

ayaw sumali china kasi dehado sila.

**niky** · February 16th, 2014 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by ADAA73

what hold has China over Vietnam for it to follow China's warning?

ayaw sumali china kasi dehado sila.

China is investing in industry in Vietnam. Vietnam has long sought to increase ties with China to improve its economy.

Delicate balancing act. But it must be a blow for China for Hanoi to even say it is considering participating.

**ADAA73** · February 16th, 2014 07:16 PM

Originally Posted by niky

China is investing in industry in Vietnam. Vietnam has long sought to increase ties with China to improve its economy.

Delicate balancing act. But it must be a blow for China for Hanoi to even say it is considering participating.

thanks for the info. If that is the case, Vietnam might accede to the demand of China if their claim is flimsy at best.

**safeorigin** · February 16th, 2014 07:20 PM

Best way to annoy and deter China is to deploy SAM batteries...

don't have any though...

any nuke capable country always cry when you place SAMs near them

**niky** · February 17th, 2014 12:10 AM

China's military actually isn't well-prepared for a maritime invasion of any other territory:
China?s Deceptively Weak (and Dangerous) Military | The Diplomat

Of course... while Taiwan and Japan could fight them off with ease, the Philippines, not so... but if the US sends a fleet to support us, the Chinese Navy won't be able to do much.

Hell, their vaunted surplus, secondhand, obsolete "not-really-an-aircraft-carrier-but-a-carrier-slash-cruiser" aircraft carrier is pathetic compared to what the US could mobilize in the area within short notice.

But if China really wanted to invade the Philippines, sending cruise missiles and long range bombers to soften us up, we don't stand a chance in hell.

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RE: Vietnam... all countries have the right, by international law, to claim the sea area around their coastline. Vietnam wants it. They can get investments even without China ,but they don't want to piss off China unnecessarily. They'll leave it to the Philippines to take China to court and get an international ruling, trying to shame China into giving up the stupid claim.

And China won't risk earning the ire of the international community by starting a war in Asia. The Chinese economy is built on exports. Even with their growing middle class and the billions poured into pump-priming the economy with infrastructure projects, they can't get domestic consumption up to the level needed to support continued economic growth and prosperity. If they make themselves a pariah, the Chinese miracle goes up in smoke... sooner or later... probably later... but it'll still suffer.

**safeorigin** · February 17th, 2014 11:35 AM

Actually, I'll be more worried about their ballistic missiles. Some of them are converted to anti-ship role, instead of carrying nukes, it's just plain jane kinetic penetrator, ie: even if you intercept it, the debris will still hit intended target.

**oliver1013** · February 17th, 2014 04:11 PM

Wow...so what now?

**Altis6453** · February 17th, 2014 05:25 PM

Originally Posted by oliver1013

Wow...so what now?

Actually, the PH is right in taking this territorial dispute to ITLOS where China's massive military strength does not matter. Instead, it has to rely on legal principles under UNCLOS to prove its claim to the South China Sea. Its insistence on bilateral talks with rival claimants and non-participation means it is not willing to recognize international law (to which China is a signatory) and that in itself could prove to be very damaging to China diplomatically.

International laws and treaties (such as UNCLOS) would collapse if defendant states could be sued only if they agreed to be sued so it would be very difficult if China were to completely ignore the ITLOS proceedings.

If the PH were to get a favorable ruling from ITLOS and China still acts aggressively against Philippine vessels in the contested areas, a case can be made for the PH to act in self-defense against unlawful aggression by another state within the territorial seas of the Philippines. Any escalation by China by mobilizing its air force or navy will likely be met by mounting international criticism if not intervention.