The South China Sea Arbitration: Illegal, Illegitimate and Invalid

The same spirit was enshrined in the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), a document of far-reaching historic significance agreed upon by China and the ASEAN, including the Philippines.

I had the pride of working in the drafting of the DOC and a few other agreements for years. For me, the thrust of these agreements cannot be clearer, i.e., disputes shall be settled in a peaceful and friendly manner through consultations on the basis of equity and mutual respect, and third-party dispute settlement, including arbitration, is explicitly excluded.

To my shock, the Philippines turned its back on the commitment it had made and, against the principle of Pacta sunt servanda, unilaterally initiated the arbitration by abusing the UNCLOS procedures.

3. Talking about respecting international law, we need to remind ourselves of the long established principle of "Ex injuria jus non oritur", i.e., legal right or entitlement cannot arise from an unlawful act, and that the UNCLOS does not allow initiation of Arbitration as in the Philippines' case.

As I mentioned before, settling relevant dispute through negotiations is the means China and the Philippines have agreed in a series of bilateral documents and the DOC.

In the worst scenario, if a dispute arises between States Parties concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention, according to the UNCLOS, "the Parties shall proceed expeditiously to an exchange of views."

Yet, the Philippines never exchanged views with China concerning its arbitration submission. The so-called "disputes" in the arbitration are sheer fabrication and the whole thing is illegally imposed on China.

Again, it is crystal clear that the Philippines and the Arbitral Tribunal are making a mock of international law, and their act will not have any lawful and legal effect.

4. The arbitration does more harm than good to good-neighborliness and peace and stability in the South China Sea.

Since the end of the Cold War, the general trend in the region is to seek new concept and approach to promote peace and prosperity. It is only in recent years that such positive trend was interrupted if not obstructed.

People may have different observations of the root cause of the present fluid situation. But one has to admit that the reaction from the other side of the Pacific to the positive development and achievements in Southeast Asia, especially the launching of the "Asia-Pacific rebalancing" in 2010, has had profound impact on the region.