PH can get ‘overwhelming majority’ vs China before UN, says Carpio

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines can get an “overwhelming majority” of allies if it raises before the United Nations (UN) the 2016 arbitral victory that invalidated China’s massive claims in the South China Sea, retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said Monday.

Carpio said the Philippine government is afraid of doing so due to grants and economic aids that China has provided to other countries.

“But if you combine the economic aid given by the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, and Japan, it will be much, much, much more than what China has given to other countries,” Carpio said in an ABS-CBN News Channel interview.

“So once we get the support of other countries, the big powers, then I think we will have an overwhelming majority in the General Assembly,” he added.

Carpio said that the Philippines, through the entire Department of Foreign Affairs, including all Philippine ambassadors, will have to work to rally support from other nations before the UN.

The campaign in favor of the Philippines, he said, may take two to three years, noting that other countries “are just waiting for us to move.”

“China needs the world to survive. It needs to export, to import. It wants to be a leader in the world, but how can you be a leader when you do not follow international law, when all the civilized community of nations are against you on this issue?” said Carpio.

“It can be done but it needs a lot of work, but we can do it because we already have the support of all the big powers other than China,” he pointed out.

Carpio said the Philippines could also consider forming an agreement with Vietnam, Malaysia, and several Western countries to “fortify” the July 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands.

After previously shelving the arbitral award, President Rodrigo Duterte last week affirmed before the UN General Assembly the Philippines’ arbitral win against China’s expansive nine-dash line claim over the South China Sea, saying “the award is now part of international law, beyond compromise and beyond the reach of passing governments to dilute, diminish or abandon.”

KGA