Palace firm on arbitration over West Philippine Sea row

Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal. AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The government is pushing through with arbitration despite China’s renewed call for bilateral talks, Malacañang said Wednesday.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said China’s latest statement, rejecting the Philippine protest on the water cannon attack against Filipino fishermen “said nothing new.”

“Essentially, it was a reiteration of the nine-dash line over the West Philippine Sea, as well as the adjacent waters,” she said during a televised Palace press briefing.

Valte said the country’s “memorial” or written pleading to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) was already being drafted.

“I think we have already made a solid case before the international community,” she said, adding that other countries have lauded the path of arbitration that the Philippines has chosen.

Chinese Embassy spokesperson Zhang Hua rejected the Philippine protest alleging Filipino fishermen were attacked by China’s Coast Guard with water cannon to drive them away from Panatag Shoal. He said the Philippines should “work with the Chinese side to resolve differences through bilateral consultations and negotiations.”
RELATED STORIES

PH protests China water cannon attack

Military to defend Filipinos from China ‘when the time comes’

Panatag shoal put under jurisdiction of Western Command