MANILA, Philippines – China cannot conduct regular patrols in the West Philippines Sea because it extends beyond their exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as mandated by international law, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday.
“Under international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), China’s EEZ cannot extend beyond 200 nautical miles measured from the Chinese mainland and Hainan Island,” DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said in a text reply to reporters seeking his comment.
“Coastal states have sovereign rights over their EEZ. Also under international law there is a high seas area in the South China Sea over which no state can exercise sovereignty,” he said.
China Ocean News of China’s State Oceanic Administration reported that a civilian patrol ship will be stationed in Sansha City on the Paracel Islands to conduct regular patrols.
International news media, quoting China Ocean News, reported that China has plans to establish “a regular patrol system on Sansha city to jointly protect the country’s maritime interests.”
The Paracel Islands, also known as Xisha Islands in China and Hoang Sa Islands in Vietnam, is a group of islands being claimed by both China and Vietnam.
In 1974, a military engagement between Vietnamese and Chinese ships in the Paracel Islands left at least 70 dead and ended with China being able to control the entire group of islands.
Free For All Nations
When reached for comment, Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines’ Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, said that even the Philippines could conduct patrols in the high seas because it is free for all nations.
“If it’s high seas it’s free for all nations or states. High seas, that’s the area beyond the 200-nautical miles from anyone’s coast,” Batongbacal said in a phone interview.
“The problem in the [West Philippine] Sea is it all depends on where you measure these 200 nautical miles from [to determine] whether there is high seas or not,” he said.
DFA said that China only has an EEZ that can be measured from the mainland and its southern province of Hainan. A small area in the center of the sea that is beyond the EEZ of China, Vietnam, and The Philippines can be considered high seas.
China however claims the entire West Philippine Sea as part of its territory including portions of the Philippine’s and Vietnam’s EEZ.
Batongbacal explained that the essential problem of the territorial claims in the South China Sea is the definition of islands scattered throughout the region.
“If it’s only a rock that cannot sustain human habitation or economic activities on its own, it will not have the 200 nautical miles EEZ from its coast,” Batongbacal said.
“If it’s a full-fledged island which connotes that it has economic activity and has human habitation, then it can have 200 nautical miles as EEZ,” he said.
In the South China Sea, the Philippines occupies several islands, the biggest of which is Pag-asa Islands in the Spratly Islands that has a population of around 300 and an airstrip.
China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei also have respective islands they have occupied in the Spratly Islands.
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