West Philippine Sea

The issue pertaining to whether which country owns the West Philippine Sea as started around

the year 2012, came to be noticed within the year 2017, that continues to be an issue up until this

recent time today. We all know that China is a very powerful country compared to our country,

which is the Philippines. China has a very strong political power, military forces and including

their strong economic power.

China wants to claim the West Philippine Sea because the country believes that the West

Philippine Sea is owned by them for centuries. They claim 90% of the territory which is the West

Philippine Sea by the 9-dash line. Although there is 200 nautical miles for all the countries that

are near in West Philippine Sea which are Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, China

and Philippines. In these countries that have been mentioned, they have the right to claim the 200

nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zone. But China is not in favor of that, China does not want

the 200 nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zone, because they want the part of West Philippine

Sea which is the 9-dash line. In the 200 nautical miles, the country has the right to go there for

any purposes that a country would want to take apart as long as they are in their Exclusive

Economic Zone.

About the 9-dash line, in Chinese map, the 9-dash line today was then 11-dash line before. They

made it 9-dash line without any explanations, assurance or any legal basis (Carpio, 2013)

When the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea awarded to broader ties with

Beijiing, Andalong defended the Duterte Administration even though it is under criticism.

“It must also be pointed out that the Philippines never gave up of any of its position in West

Philippine Sea during Duterte Administration and infact it is improving the existing facilities of

its biggest Island, pagasa, to accommodate more residents and personnel” (Andalong)

President Duterte declared a supposed “fishing deal” with China President Xi Jinping. China is

allowed to catch fish in the West Philippines Sea, even though they have their own Exclusive
Economic Zone just to avoid war and fights and to preserve peace among these countries.

(Gotinga, 2019)

The West Philippine Sea is the biggest issue in our country because China wants to claim the

West Philippine Sea. The China wants to claim the West Philippine Sea but the West Philippine

Sea is only 120 nautical miles away from Zambales, Philippines, while the West Philippine Sea is

500 nautical miles away from China which is 2 times farther than the distance of West Philippine

Sea in the Philippines.

The West Philippine Sea has been a big issue due to its rich resources. Everyone is going to be

happy if they have so much resources that they can call it to be their own. So that, there are some

countries that wants to claim the West Philippine Sea because it is rich in corals, oil, gases and

living and non living things under the Island. Everyone is fighting for the West Philippine Sea

because there is a substance under the water that is very expensive and hard to find.

China has been cruel to the Filipino fishermen who fishes in West Philippine Sea. Filipino

fishermen want an action to stop the cruelness of China to the fishermen. The China’s greediness

to the territory, they want the Filipino fishermen to be poor and they want to own all the resources

in West Philippine Sea that they prohibited Filipino fishermen to catch fish in the island. China

takes an advantage because President Duterte is not doing any action to stop the cruelness and the

greediness of China. We, Filipinos need to defend our territory so that China will not take an

advantage to us. We need to fight for our rights in that island. Actually we have the ability to

provide military things which can be used to defend with what is ours. But the government makes

a corruption and they are being selfish. We need military power to protect our country.

West Philippine Sea has become the one of the biggest issue in the Philippines. They started to

talk this issue on year 2017 in the University of the Philippines Alumni Council Meeting. Aside

of the other issue that also connects in the society, they also aim to develop and pass resolutions

presented by UP Alumni to the Board of Regents , Congress, Senate, Government agencies and
private groups. The speaker of this annual meeting is the 2017 Most Distinguished Alumni

Awardees, who is Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio. Antonio Carpio

started the lecture by sharing the history of rivalry in such territory. The rivalry started when

China opened about the nine-dash line and ten-dash line that opposed different countries.

According to Carpio, China's started the rivalry on 1932 and they claimed the Paracel Islands.

China wants to expand their military and economic power that's why they are interested in West

Philippine Sea because it is rich in oil, petroleum, and minerals. Carpio also presented old maps

to prove that the Philippines is a sovereign nation in the West Philippine Sea. One of these maps

is the 1734 Murillo Velarde Map, which is the first map in the Philippines that was made by a

Spanish priest. The Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said that the Philippine should not

give up but instead should fight for it. It will help if each Filipinos learn more about this issue

before commenting so that the Philippines could assert its sovereignty over the said territory.

There has been an existing controversial sea dispute between claimants of the West Philippine

Sea, in the case of both the countries Philippines and China. The exclusive economic zone of the

Philippines is one of the majorly affected by the 9-dashline rule, wherein the West Philippine Sea

is almost 600 nautical miles from the baseline of mainland China. Basically, China is preventing

its neighboring countries from developing their own exclusive economic zone also known as

EEZ, an area 200 nautical miles from the coastal state's baselines or edges.
The 9-dash line has no foundation or support under the international law, as it falsely claims to

define China’s historic rights and its limitations. The 9-dash line is also, China’s distinction to

have the entire South China Sea to its own. The Philippines declared that the 9-dash line is

unsubstantiated under UNCLOS.

China has failed to observe the Convention by intervening with the Philippines’ exercise of its

sovereign rights and jurisdiction. China prohibits Filipinos from fishing in the West Philippine

Sea. UNCLOS, on the other hand however, lends Filipino people to fish as their exclusive rights

within the Philippines EEZ in the disputed waters.

The Philippines says that China’s reclamation activities have buried 311 hectares of coral reefs,

around 7 times the size of Vatican City.

http://nine.cnnphilippines.com/news/2015/07/23/west-philippine-sea-101-scarborough-
shoal.html

https://www.rappler.com/nation/234689-satellite-maps-show-foreign-vessels-swarming-
philippine-waters

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/07/23/1937200/china-will-scoop-all-fish-west-
philippine-
sea/amp/#aoh=15712779721177&csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fptop.only.wip.la%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=
From%20%251%24s

https://www.cfo.gov.ph/news/cfo-news-and-events/3248-explainer-philippines-5-arguments-
vs-china.html

https://globalnation.inquirer.net/179721/palace-ph-not-giving-up-on-west-philippine-sea/amp

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