FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay clarified his reported statement that the country is willing to share with China resources from the contested West Philippine Sea even if the Permanent Court of Arbitration rules in the Philippines’ favor.
“What I said is we have to wait for the ruling and study and dissect its implication,” Yasay said in a statement released on Saturday amid criticism of his supposed statement that he is ready to negotiate with China on joint exploration of oil and fishery resources in the disputed area.
Yasay issued the clarification amid reports that China has begun military drills in the South China Sea with the navy carrying out combat exercises with live missiles in the area between the Paracels and the southern Chinese island of Hainan.
Despite the Chinese muscle flexing, however, an international jurist said a PCA ruling favorable to the Philippines would be a “game changer” in international law and could lead other nations with territorial disputes with China to adopt the Philippine strategy of arbitration.
“It will provide our neighbors in Asia and our allies abroad a neutral ground upon which to take a position on the issue,” said International Criminal Court Justice Raul Pangalangan.
“In other words, without states saying ‘China is right’ or ‘Philippines is right,’ we provide even the erstwhile hesitant Asean states an opportunity to take a decision without riling China’s sensitivities,” said Pangalangan, a former dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law.
But it might turn into a disadvantage if the Philippines will agree to pursue bilateral negotiations with China.
“In a David versus Goliath scenario, the Philippines would have been helpless. By filing the case, we have shifted it from a two-party settlement and submitted it to a third-party decision maker in the tribunal,” he explained.
But Yasay maintained that since the ruling on July 12 will not cover sovereignty and delimitation of territory, it is possible that some claimant countries will be open for joint exploration.
“As the ruling will not address sovereignty and delimitation, it is possible that some time in the future, claimant countries might consider entering into arrangements, such as joint exploration and utilization of resources in disputed areas that do not prejudice the parties’ claims and delimitation of boundaries in accordance with the [United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea],” Yasay stressed.
Unclos is a binding agreement signed by the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China where every countries has the exclusive maritime right to explore and exploit resources within its 200 nautical miles economic exclusive zone.
In a text message he sent and was quoted by the ANC on Friday night he also clarified that the Permanent Court of Arbitration does not have “any enforcement power” for a plan of shared resources.
“Since the PCA does not have any enforcement powers, any overlapping claims awarded can be best implemented by negotiating an agreement with other claimants that could possibly include the joint exploration and utilization of the resources in the disputed area,” Yasay said.
In a forum on Monday, Yasay cited the courtesy call of Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jinhua to President Rodrigo Duterte, and disclosed that both countries have plans for a joint exploration of oil and fishery resources in the contested waters.
“If the Chinese, in respecting the decision of the arbitral tribunal, would like to negotiate within the context of that arbitral tribunal along with the other claimants, if at all that will be covered by the decision, to see how we can jointly use and explore the area, by all means let’s pursue that,” Yasay said.
Yasay also expressed the same idea in an interview with Agence France-Presse which reported that the Philippines is willing to share resources from the disputed waters.
“We can even have the objective of seeing how we can jointly explore this territory—how we can utilize and benefit mutually from the utilization of the resources in this exclusive economic zone [EEZ] where claims are overlapping,” Yasay said.
It was the second time Yasay turned back a statement about China since he assumed leadership of the foreign office on July 1.
During their Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Yasay referred to the Philippines’ possible victory on July 12: “What if, in the face of these circumstances, China will dig in and put us to a test? They will disallow again our fishermen from fishing in Scarborough Shoal.”
His statement has increase concerns that the Duterte administration is afraid of China, leading Yasay to make a clarification in another forum.
“In my first official press conference last week, a reporter asked, ‘Are you afraid of China?’ In answer, I replied with a rhetorical question: ‘Why should we be afraid of China?’ The hall fell momentarily silent while reflecting a collective response,” he said.
That moment, Yasay said he remembered the words, “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.”
He added, “To paraphrase another world leader, let me say that we do not fear to negotiate, and we do not negotiate out of fear.”