Carpio: China teaches ‘false’ West Philippine Sea narratives to its students

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio. INQUIRER file photo

MANILA, Philippines—Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Thursday lamented how the Chinese people are being taught of what he called “false narratives” to validate China’s expansive claims in the disputed areas of the West Philippine Sea.

Speaking before a forum in Makati City, Carpio, who has been active in lecturing about China’s “false claims” for years, said every Chinese student from Grade school to college is taught of this false narratives and they acknowledge it “by heart.”

Carpio was a member of the Philippine panel who won Manila’s arbitration case against China’s claim in the West Philippine Sea in 2016.

He also said that the Chinese government can only honor the arbitration ruling until its people “changed their mind.”

“Because if the Chinese government complies to the ruling, the Chinese people might throw them out. So this is our problem now. We’ve solved the legal problem, now how we can convince the Chinese people that this historical narrative is the false history of the century, fake news of the century?” Carpio said.

During the previous administration, the government won its maritime dispute before the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration. The tribunal cited the exclusive economic zones provided for in the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas which came against the so called nine-dash line of Beijing.

China, however, refused to honor the ruling. The Duterte administration has also maintained a soft stance in the issue and even pushed for a joint maritime exploration with Beijing.

READ: PH, China to sign 3 deals on joint exploration in WPS

Carpio also said that Filipinos should start informing the world that China has no historical rights over the West Philippine Sea.

“We should also start accounting to inform the people of the world (that) China has no historic rights and ask to help us explain the Chinese that was has been taught them from Grade 1 to College were false,” he said.

“They have to give up that claim, so that their government can now accept the ruling,” he added. /jpv