Philippine neighbors standing up to China without war, Carpio tells Duterte after SONA

Retired Supreme Court (SC) senior associate justice Antonio Carpio has reminded President Rodrigo Duterte that war is not an option in the country's territorial dispute with China, citing other Asian countries that have been standing up to China without resorting to arms.

"Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia are asserting their sovereign rights to their maritime zones against China’s claims," Carpio said in a statement released shortly after Duterte delivered his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.

"These countries do not go to war against China, and neither does China go to war against these countries."

In his almost two-hour long SONA, Duterte said the government is working to protect the Philippines' rights in the South China Sea, defending his administration from critics' claim that "nothing has been done" to "forcefully or physically" retake the South China Sea.

As he claimed China is in possession of the country's EEZ, Duterte said: "We have to go to war. And I cannot afford it. Maybe some other president can but I cannot. Inutil ako diyan, sabihin ko sa inyo, and we are willing to admit it."

But Carpio said war is "not even [an] option" as "there are lawful and peaceful means of asserting sovereign rights."

"War is not even option because the UN Charter outlaws resort to war to settle territorial or maritime disputes. Moreover, the Philippine Constitution renounces war as an instrument of national policy, which means the Philippines cannot go to war to enforce the arbitral ruling," he said, referring to the Philippines' 2016 victory in the case it filed against China's claim of the South China Sea before an international court.

China in possession?

In the same statement, Carpio also countered Duterte's claim that China has "possession" of the country's exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea.

"Naval powers like the US, UK, France, Australia, Japan, and Canada regularly sail in our EEZ in the West Philippine Sea, proving that China is not in possession of our EEZ in the West Philippine Sea," he said.

"The President should not say that China is in possession of our EEZ in the West Philippine Sea because factually China is not in possession."

The Philippines has exclusive sovereign rights to the resources in its 200-nautical mile EEZ in the West Philippine Sea, a part of the vast and disputed South China Sea. --KBK, GMA News