OFFBEAT MAIL

Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague. Photo: PCA The Red Dragon has stopped spewing fire, and it seems it’s now behaving in a forthright manner after the Permanent Court of Arbitration handed down its final decision on July 12 which favored the legal complaint filed by the Philippines against China on what it perceived as an illegal intrusion on Philippine sovereignty. As expected, this didn't come as a great surprise to many Filipinos. Even before the decision was handed down, I could already sense of glitter of hope would come as expected, after the Philippines had filed a complaint before the arbitral tribunal on the manner by which China asserts its rights over the disputed territories in the South China Sea, considering that it was clear from the start that China has violated an important provision set forth by the United Nations on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS), in which China is a signatory. As I was saying before, China may have withdrawn its support of the ...

That's a big question that plays in the minds of most democratic-loving people worldwide. Map shows location of Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands.  According to the China's foreign ministry, the Philippines' filing of a complaint before ITLOS was tantamount to stealing its territories. If China is really the legitimate owner of some, if not all, the islands in the South China Sea, how come it didn't raise a howl when the UNCLOS was created? Wasn't China aware of the consequences as soon as the UNCLOS was created? In fact, it was clear from the beginning that a particular country has the right to own up islands that are within its 250 EEZ limits. Yet, China has kept mum on the issue until the Philippines decided to put a demarcation which eventually created the West Philippine Sea. Even as this article is being written, Chinese Coast Guards had been intimidating smaller Philippine ships that went to Ayungin Shoal to bring food rations to some soldiers who w...

Territorial sea row in the South China Sea China has warned the Philippines that it would suffer the consequences should the latter pursues its plan to file a complaint over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea before the International Tribunal on the Laws of the Seas (ITLOS). According to former ranking government officials in the Philippines, there is a possibility that China could use its technological might to sabotage either the energy projects or introduce virus into the country's sensitive communications data. Former Interior and Local Governments Secretary Raffy Alunan said in a broadcast interview that he received a report that the country's electric grids could be shut down remotely, which could cripple the electricity distribution in the Philippines. Currently, China owns at least 40 percent of the stakes in the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines through the former state grid. But an official of the NGCP said this wouldn't happen consi...

China has again used its naval might to bully Filipino fishermen who were taking shelter due to bad weather 40 yards off the shore of the Bajo de Masinloc, which is inside  the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines. An exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is a seazone prescribed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind.[1] It stretches from the baseline out to 200 nautical miles from its coast. In colloquial usage, the term may include the continental shelf. The term does not include either the territorial sea or the continental shelf beyond the 200 n.m.limit. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_Economic_Zone) The incident took place a few days when the Chinese Coast Guard deliberately bombarded two Filipino fishing vessels with a water cannon as a means to drive them away from the area. Although Philippine Foreign Affairs spo...