SOUTH CHINA SEA-PHILIPPINES/PROTEST Filipino activists protest against China in support of South China Sea arbitration case

Record ID: 148157

  • Title: SOUTH CHINA SEA-PHILIPPINES/PROTEST Filipino activists protest against China in support of South China Sea arbitration case
  • Date: 7th July 2015
  • Summary: MANILA, PHILIPPINES (JULY 7, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FILIPINO ACTIVISTS MARCHING ON SIDEWALK WHILE CARRYING BANNERS AND PLACARDS PROTEST OUTSIDE CHINESE CONSULATE FILIPINO CONGRESSMAN NERI COLMENARES STANDING AMONG PROTESTERS WITH PLACARDS PLACARD WITH CHINESE TEXT THAT READS (English): "SOUTH CHINA SEA DOES NOT BELONG TO CHINA!" PLACARDS THAT READ (English): "SOUTH CHI
  • Embargoed: 22nd July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • Country: Philippines
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA40RF3DY9ZIV6WO0KVB2FBD2YY
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS NOTE, PLEASE REFER TO 2107 SOUTH CHINA SEA-FILE/ SENT ON JULY 7 FOR FILE
    About two dozens left-wing activists marched outside the Chinese consulate in Manila's financial district on Tuesday (July 7) to drum up support on the arbitration case against Beijing in the South China Sea.
    Manila has sent a legal team of experts and high ranking officials in the Hague this week to fight in an unprecedented arbitration case under the United Nations' Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Philippine foreign ministry said.
    Activists in Manila carried nationalist placards and chanted slogans demanding Beijing to stop its incursions in the South China Sea.
    "It is our task, it is our responsibility to denounce what China is doing, to denounce China's imperialist agenda in the region. so we support not just the legal battle, but we also want to take political actions against Chinese incursions, so while the legal battle would be very important and would create support from the international community, by the end of the day it's the people who have to stand up and ensure the sovereignty is respected, ensure that we have an economy and the military that is capable of defending our islands and our waters," said New Patriotic Alliance Secretary General Renato Reyes.
    The Philippine foreign ministry said they will present their case this week at the Permanent Court of Arbitration to decide if the tribunal has jurisdiction to hear the legal arbitration case.
    China's foreign ministry has called the Philippines legal arbitration case against its claims in the South China Sea a "political provocation" aimed at denying Beijing's territorial rights.
    Manila's team is preparing arguments to show that the nine-dash line claim is invalid under the Law of the Sea. They are also seeking clarifications of the territorial limits, under the law, of rocks and shoals such as Scarborough - all part of a bid to confirm the Philippines' rights within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
    The claims of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei are bisected by China's "nine-dash line" - the historic claim that reaches deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.
    Overlapping claims in the South China Sea - traversed by half the world's shipping tonnage - are one of the region's biggest flashpoints amid China's military build-up and the U.S. strategic "pivot" back to Asia.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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