The Philippines' territorial expansion attempts undermine international legal system: report

(ECNS) -- The Philippines' territorial expansion attempts undermine the international legal system, said a report released in Beijing on Wednesday.

The report, "Historical and Legal Critique of the Philippines' Territorial Claims in the South China Sea," was initiated by the China Institute for Marine Affairs under the Ministry of Natural Resources.

A multidisciplinary expert panel, composed of scholars in history and international law from the China Institute for Marine Affairs, the Chinese Academy of History, Wuhan University, Nanjing University, Beijing Jiaotong University, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Huaiyin Normal University and other institutions, jointly produced the report.

The report aims to examine whether the Philippines' territorial claims in the South China Sea are consistent with credible historical sources and generally recognized rules of international law, in order to determine whether those territorial claims comply with international law.

It reviews the formation process of the Philippines' territorial boundaries and analyzes its various attempts and intentions to expand its territorial limits. It points out that the series of "grounds" put forward by the Philippines to support its "territorial sovereignty" over Huangyan Dao (Scarborough Shoal) and certain maritime features of the Nansha Oundao (Spratly Islands) are replete with misinterpretations and distortions of historical sources, and at the legal level, scarcely demonstrate any probative value. They serve merely as pretexts for the Philippines to break through the limits imposed by international treaties and, therefore, to illegally expand its territorial limits. The Philippines territorial expansion attempts undermine the international legal system and pose a threat to regional peace and stability as well as the post-war order arrangement.

It concludes that the Philippines' attempt to break through the territorial limits defined by a series of treaties with legal force and to extend its territory to Huangyan Dao and certain maritime features of the Nansha Qundao lacks historical evidence, manifestly contravenes the rules of international law concerning the acquisition of territory, and is devoid of historical and legal foundation.

(By Wei Chenxi, Zhang Dongfang)