PHILIPPINES TAKES CHINA TO UN OVER SEA ROW
Philippines has taken China to a United Nations tribunal to challenge its claim to most of the South China Sea, including Philippines territory, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said on January 22, 2012.
"The Philippines has exhausted almost all political and diplomatic avenues for a peaceful negotiated settlement of its maritime dispute with China... we hope that the arbitral proceedings shall bring this dispute to a durable solution," del Rosario said at a news conference.
del Rosario said Manila had told Beijing's ambassador about the decision to take China to an arbitration tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), a 1982 treaty signed by both countries.
Philippines in its submission says Beijing's so-called 'ninedash line' outlining its territorial claims over most of the sea, including waters and islands close to its neighbours, is illegal, according to del Rosario.
It also demands that China "desist from unlawful activities that violate the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of the Philippines under the Unclos", he added.
China's territorial claims overlap those of Philippines as well as Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan.
0 comments:
Post a Comment