Philippines getting ready to take dispute with China to int’l tribunal

Map showing the disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea, including the Spratlys Islands and Scarborough Shoal. AFP

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines will unilaterally bring its Scarborough Shoal dispute with China to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea following Beijing’s rejection of its call for the tribunal’s arbitration of the issue, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Wednesday.

In a text message from Washington, D.C., Del Rosario said the Department of Foreign Affairs was “currently making the necessary preparations” for the presentation of the conflict to the tribunal, which is based in Hamburg, Germany.

He said Manila was pursuing a peaceful settlement of the issue by bringing the conflict to the tribunal,  established on December 10, 1982 in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Del Rosario said abiding by the rules set by the UNCLOS was the “legitimate way of dealing with conflicting and overlapping claims” in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

Del Rosario was in the US capital for a meeting he and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin had with their counterparts, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

On April 17, Del Rosario asked China to join the Philippines in bringing the dispute to the Hamburg tribunal but China rejected the invitation.