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South China Sea: Philippine senators urge caution in renaming disputed area ahead of case against Beijing

arifnsn October 30, 2023

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Philippine senators have urged the Marcos Jnr administration to exercise caution as it plans to rename an area in the disputed South China Sea amid elevated tensions with Beijing.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla last week proposed renaming the West Philippine Sea as the “Sea of Asia” when his department files a case against China for environmental damage in the resource-rich waterway early next year.

The West Philippine Sea is the term used by Manila to describe the eastern parts of the South China Sea that are within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and territorial waters.

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The area was in the spotlight after the Philippine coastguard in September released a video of its underwater inspections of Iroquois Reef and Sabina Shoal that showed “severe damage” to the marine ecosystem.

Among its findings, the coastguard found dead corals that were cleaned and crushed before being dumped into the seabed in those areas where Chinese fishing boats had been spotted in recent months.

Senator Grace Poe said maritime experts should be consulted before the nomenclature change goes ahead, or else it could impact Manila’s territorial claims in the area.

“Any initiative must not diminish our territorial claims in the disputed sea. We must preserve our rights to the Philippines’ EEZ,” Poe said.

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Senator Jinggoy Estrada noted that the government should stick to the West Philippine Sea denomination as it reflects the country’s legal claim to the territory, The Manila Bulletin reported.

“The term West Philippine Sea is a geopolitical designation of our government, an alternative name to the parts of the South China Sea that are within the Philippines’ EEZ in which we have territorial and maritime claims in that region,” Estrada said.

But Remulla defended the move, saying the new term would help the country lodge multiple complaints against China in the maritime region by maintaining that the waterway is a shared resource for the whole world.

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Lawmaker Raffy Tulfo agreed with the justice chief.

“[Remulla] consulted many people to make our case against China strong. So, I think what he’s doing is to rally the international community behind us,” Tulfo said.

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea – where the Philippines is among several claimants – and has rejected a 2016 international ruling on the territorial dispute in Manila’s favour.

Estrada expressed confidence in the Department of Justice’s case, hoping it would be watertight and replicate the success of the previous hearing before the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration.

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Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said he welcomed joint patrols with Asean in the hotly contested sea to counter China’s assertive activities.

The topic could be on the agenda when defence ministers from the 10-member bloc gather for an annual meeting in Jakarta next month, Teodoro added.

In a speech to newly promoted generals of the military and navy, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said the armed forces must be ready to defend the country from “emerging threats” as Manila and Beijing remained locked for years in a bitter territorial discord in the South China Sea.

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