The Philippines in the South China Sea: Out of Time, Out of Options?

Abstract

Background The Philippines began claiming parts of the Spratly Islands — the Kalayaan Island Group or KIG — in the 1950s when Tomas Cloma discovered them unoccupied. Since then, the Philippines has promulgated laws on archipelagic baselines and the geographic scope of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and placed the KIG under the administrative jurisdiction of Palawan province. In 2009, the Philippines submitted the geographical coordinates for its archipelagic baselines to the United Nations. Using the “regime of islands” principle under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the coordinates show Scarborough Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc) to be within the country’s EEZ. The government routinely protests the actions of other claimants, and its coast guard arrests fishermen and poachers in the KIG and in the EEZ. The Philippines currently occupies eight islands in the KIG. These actions are not unique to the Philippines. All South China Sea (SCS) claimants have followed a pattern of (re-)naming, claiming, mapping, occupying islets, protesting each other’s statements or actions, and arresting fishermen and other would-be encroachers. The Philippines has held bilateral consultations with China on SCS-related issues since 1995 but progress has been slow and insignificant.