PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is correct about being firm and unyielding about our claims in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) clearly delineates maritime zones and, over the exclusive economic zone as well as the continental shelf of any coastal state, it recognizes "sovereign rights" — essentially the exclusive rights to the marine resources in those zones, including mineral, gas and oil reserves.
China's ridiculous nine-dash line or 10-dash line — a claim that keeps expanding — encompasses virtually the entire South China Sea/West Philippine Sea, in effect rendering nugatory the guarantees of international law. This is not correct, and it would not be correct to yield to China. Whatever its ancient maps purport to show — and why they do show is by no means clear — and whatever ports the ships of long-past Chinese dynasties may have called at have been rendered irrelevant by the entry into force of the Convention of the Law of the Sea to which China is a party!
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