Best for China to come to terms with PH, says Joma Sison

The leader of the Philippines’ communist insurgency said it would be best for China to accept the decision of the United Nations-backed arbitration court that favored the Philippines in the case over the disputed South China Sea.

An “elated” Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison on Tuesday welcomed the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which upheld the Philippines’ sovereignty over its exclusive economic zone and extended continental shelf under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).

“It holds China culpable for having violated the sovereign rights of the Philippines, unjustly attacking or hindering Filipino fishermen, preventing Philippine oil exploration and other economic activities, damaging marine life and environment by unlawfully building artificial islands and endangering navigation,” Sison said in a statement.

“All countries, especially China, should respect the final and binding decision of the tribunal. The arrogant claims of China over almost the entire South China Sea have no leg to stand on. China must accept the ruling in the face of the international community, especially the signatories of the Unclos, the majority members of the UN General Assembly, the Asean and other neighboring countries,” he added.

Sison urged China to respect the ruling, as he warned against increasing “reputational damage” if the Asian powerhouse would violate international law.

“It cannot boast of its supposed economic and military power to ignore or violently oppose the judgment of the tribunal. This is a time of serious economic and social troubles for China domestically because of its own crisis of overproduction and extreme abuse of credit and public debt and because of the ever worsening crisis of the global capitalist system. More powerful capitalist countries are not on the side of China on the issue of Philippine rights under Unclos,” Sison said.

“It is best for China to come to terms with the Philippines and other Asean countries, respond positively to the call of President Duterte for appropriate bilateral negotiations and counter the scheme of the US to pretend being the protector of the Philippines and yet dominating, occupying Philippine territory with the use of military bases, oppressing and exploiting the entire Filipino people,” he added.

The Hague court on Tuesday released its 501-page decision on the arbitration case filed by the Philippines in 2013, which concluded that “there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line.’”