‘Phl chose right course in sea row’ - Institute for Maritime and Ocean Affairs

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines chose the right course, an international think tank said of the country’s filing a case before an arbitral court on its overlapping claim with China in the Spratlys.

The Philippines may face repercussions for bringing its territorial dispute with China before an international court but complacency may be costlier, US-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report.

Gregory Poling of the CSIS in Washington said the submission of the memorial or written argument on the Philippines’ position to the arbitral tribunal in The Hague on March 30 “marks a bold step by Manila and one that Beijing seems to have believed never would actually happen.”

The nearly 4,000-page memorial explains in detail the Philippines’ arguments and evidence against China’s nine-dash line and other aspects of Beijing’s expansive and excessive South China Sea claims.

“Manila is paying a cost for its case, but it has correctly determined that the cost of complacency would be higher,” he said.

“The Philippines chose the right course. Now the international community must weigh in and convince China of that fact,” Poling said in a commentary.