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Aquino: China’s ‘nine-dash line’ is the problem in West PHL Sea


China’s territorial claim over a vast expanse of the West Philippine Sea under its nine-dash line does not conform with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and encroaches upon Philippine sovereignty, President Benigno Aquino III told reporters in a briefing Monday.   This is the reason why the Philippines and China are caught in a diplomatic deadlock involving the Panatag Shoal, the Philippine leader noted.   The problem with China’s nine-dash line map is that at least three of those dashes refer to the Philippine coastline, the President said, explaining his position on the dispute with China.   “So, how does that conform to UNCLOS? Paano ba aatrasan ‘yung binigkas na nila na hindi sila mapapahiya? At alam natin from the start ito ang difficulty,” Aquino said.   China and the Philippines are at present caught in a diplomatic standoff over eight Chinese fishing vessels that supposedly poached marine species in Panatag Shoal, or Huanyang Island as the Chinese call it, or Scarborough Shoal in international maps.   Philippine authorities on April 8 tried to detain the Chinese fishermen and their boats but two Chinese "law enforcement" vessels were able to maneuver and block the Philippine Navy’s BRP Gregorio del Pilar and its men from doing do.   “… Part of my function is to preserve the patrimony. We know that there were really difficulties even before the Scarborough Shoal incident,” Aquino said, speaking in Filipino.   “The problem with the nine-dash line–arguably a minimum of three of those nine–refers to… our coastline. Actually, if you look at the map–depending on the scale–those are even four…” Aquino said.   Apart from China and the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam are claimants to all or parts of the West Philippine Sea–with its vital sealanes and supposedly rich mineral deposits that include fossil fuel oil.   The Spratly Islands and Panatag Shoal are parts and parcels of the territorial dispute.   Panatag Shoal is 124-nautical-miles west of Zambales province in western Luzon, and is thus within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.   “Under the UNCLOS… Panatag Shoal is clearly within our EEZ, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda told reporters in the same briefing at Malacañang on Monday.   “And therefore we have to maintain our sovereign rights over the shoal, and in the process we will be maintaining our presence there,” Lacierda added. —Rouchelle Dinglasan/VS/HS/KG, GMA News

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