PH caught in a...
Manila Bulletin27 May 2015By ROY C. MABASA
Private claims of the South China Sea islands were launched in mid-1950s, led by Filipino adventurer and fishing magnate Tomas Cloma Sr. who found several unoccupied groups of islands in the South China Sea.
Cloma and his son, owner of a private maritime training institute in Manila, aspired to open a cannery and develop guano deposits in the Spratlys. It was principally for economic reasons, therefore, that he
“discovered” and claimed islands in the Spratlys.
On May 11, 1956, Cloma, together with 40 men, took formal possession of the islands, lying some 612 km west of the southern end of Palawan and named them Freedomland. Four days later, on May 15, 1956, Cloma issued and posted copies of his “Notice to the Whole World” on each of the islands as a manifestation of unwavering claims over the territory.
This declaration was met with hostile reactions from several neighboring countries, especially Taiwan. As a result, on September 24, 1956, Taiwan reoccupied nearby Itu Aba Island (also known as Taiping Island), which it had abandoned in 1950, and intercepted Cloma’s men and vessels found within its immediate waters. Mainland China also restated its own claim.
That time, Manila disavowed participation to Cloma’s adventures but left door open by describing islands as terra nullius (nobody’s land).
However, Cloma’s territorial claim later formed part of the justification of territorial claims by the Philippines of the Spratly islands along with doctrines from the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
In 2014, the Philippines sought adjudication of territorial dispute with China at the International Court of Arbitration. In its pleadings, the Philippines abandoned efforts to assert succession to the Cloma claim, and instead asserted a 200mile territorial claim under the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) Law of the Sea.
Philippines’ claims More than a decade after the adventures of Cloma, the Philippines began secretly occupying Kalayaan Islands in the South China Sea, according to Batongbacal.
Later, Manila attempted several times to get security guarantees from Washington for its Kalayaan Island claim through Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) commitments. This was made after the Philippine government received a report from its United Nations Mission that China made an alarming statement before the UN that it would not compromise its sovereignty over these islands.
Batongbacal pointed out that this was probably the Philippines “most powerful card” ending up being part of the renegotiations for the MDT.
“The ball of contention was that the Philippines wanted assurances and clarification from the US that in case there would be an armed attack, it should include Kalayaan Group of Islands,” Batongbacal said.
The Philippines persistent objective was the express and written interpretation of US obligations under MDT Article IV and V to apply to Philippine claims, he said. However, the US was also persistent in its response: neutrality on all claims and the non-extension of MDT to Philippine claims.
US becoming aggressive However, the temperament of US toward South China Sea began to change after China started to exhibit its aggressiveness with regards to its claims through maritime coercions
And now with reports of China’s massive reclamation in disputed islands in South China Sea, the US can no longer remain detached from the issue as it did in the 1970s.
“Even if the Philippines appears to be the target flavor of the month for the Chinese maritime coercion, the US subsequently announced that if the Chinese is willing to do it with one country, it is also willing to do it with any other country,” said Batongbacal.
This is the reason, he said, the US government is a little bit more vocal now.
The current stance of the US on the territorial dispute between several Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Member States and China can be traced back to the time when America began to espouse Mahan’s sea power doctrine.
Batongbacal said the recent proposal by the Pentagon to send war ships and aircrafts to the South China Sea is not a military challenge in the sense that America would go toe to toe with China, but basically a challenge under its Freedom of Navigation program--part and parcel of its sea power doctrine.
“We are now seeing that the freedom of navigation principle under the US maritime security policy is now being directly challenged and under threat by the situation in the (disputed) islands in the South China Sea,” he said. “That’s what we are sensing.”
出典：http://www.pressreader.com/philippines/manila-bulletin/20150527/281706908277194/TextView