EU can help negotiate on 'difficulties' regarding South China Sea, says Marcos

MANILA - Enforcement of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) will be strengthened if the ASEAN and the European Union (EU) will join voices amid the tensions in the South China Sea, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said.

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Speaking at the press conference of the EU-ASEAN Commemorative Summit, Marcos said the commitment of the two blocs provides a "very strong position to be able to negotiate" on issues surrounding the disputed waters.

"One of the reasons that we have these conferences is to map out any possible actions that might be jointly taken because every action that might be taken that objects or brings a light to a possible violation of the UNCLOS is much stronger when it is brought about by a group of nations such as ASEAN," the Philippine leader said.

"If the EU now with our strategic partnership is able to also join their voices to that, then that will be much stronger into terms of actually being able to enforce what UNCLOS is all about," he added.

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The 1982 UNCLOS is an international treaty establishing legal framework for maritime activities.

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It says countries can claim an area 12 nautical miles (22km) from the coast as their territorial seas, where they have full sovereignty.

They can also claim waters up to 200 nautical miles from the coast as an exclusive economic zone, where they have a sovereign right to the water column and sea floor as well as resources, but other countries still have the right to sail through or fly over the waters.

Marcos said EU's commitment in the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties, to UNCLOS, and its support for the Philippines' arbitral win on issues surrounding the South China Sea "is already a very, very big step for us in the Philippines."

"We now have the support, a strategic support from not only the member countries of EU but of EU itself," he said.

He noted that the EU could act as a third party to "negotiate further these difficulties that we are all having to face with the problems in terms of territoriality in the South China Sea."

The Philippines is locked in a maritime dispute with China in the South China Sea, where Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan also have competing claims. China is regarded as the most aggressive among the claimants in the waters believed to be rich in oil and natural gas deposits.

China has ignored a 2016 decision by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration that declared its historical claim to be without basis.

Marcos earlier said the Philippines would use the Hague ruling "to continue to assert our territorial rights."

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In August, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said the Philippines was willing to reopen joint exploration talks with China, "guided by our laws and our constitution."