China has consistently rejected the 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
In doing so, it has propagated several outright falsehoods and misleading narratives to undermine the Philippines’ legal claim to its exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea.
We can cite a number of distortions spread by the Chinese government regarding the South China Sea.
One, China has historic rights over the South China Sea that go beyond UNCLOS.
These so-called “historic rights” based on the vague and baseless “nine-dash line,” of late revised to “ten-dash line” to include Taiwan—supersede the Philippines’ sovereign rights over its exclusive economic zone or EEZ under UNCLOS.
The PCA ruling explicitly invalidated this claim, stating that China’s historic rights have no legal basis under international law.
Two, China dismisses the Arbitral Ruling as “illegal” or “just a piece of paper.”
Some Philippine officials and social media commentators echo this narrative, prompting the Armed Forces of the Philippines to call such statements unpatriotic and misleading.
Three, China frequently accuses the Philippines of provocation. It tries to portray Philippine maritime patrols within our own EEZ as provocative or illegal, even though these patrols are lawful under UNCLOS.
But it is the Chinese vessels, including warships, coast guard ships and coastal maritime militia, that have been documented harassing Filipino fishermen and obstructing our coast guard and navy patrols.
Four, China labels Philippine media and cultural narratives as propaganda. China has tried to block international screenings of documentaries that depict Filipino experiences in the West Philippine Sea, calling them “disinformation” and “false propaganda.”
These efforts aim to suppress global awareness of China’s aggressive actions and our legal victory under the 2016 PCA ruling.
Five, China has continued to undermine the legitimacy of UNCLOS and selectively interprets its provisions to suit its claims, while ignoring provisions that protect EEZ rights of coastal states like the Philippines.
Filipino officials have called out this “revisionist and self-serving” application of international law.
Six, China takes offense at the Philippine government’s decision to accept the deployment of missiles from the United States in locations within the country as an act that would trigger an arms race in the region.
But isn’t it China that has seized islands in the South Chin Sea and transformed them into military facilities with missiles, fortifications and airstrips that can accommodate their advanced fighter jets?
It’s China that has started the arms race in this part of the world.
The Philippines, backed by the 2016 PCA ruling, should continue to assert its sovereign rights in our EEZ through diplomacy, legal action and international partnerships in the years ahead, despite Beijing’s provocations and disinformation.
