RP protests China claim of Spratly’s before UN By Michaela P. del Callar 04/14/2011

RP protests China claim of Spratly’s before UN

By Michaela P. del Callar 04/14/2011

The Philippines has protested before the United Nations China’s claim over the long-disputed Spratly islands and adjacent waters as “without basis in international law,” the third of five Asian claimants to oppose Beijing’s far-reaching territorial bid before the world body.

In an April 5 diplomatic protest seen by the Tribune yesterday, the Philippines asserted that the sprawling portion of the Spratlys that it claims — called the Kalayaan Island Group or KIG — is an integral part of its territory and that the Manila government has “sovereignty and jurisdiction” over that area.

The protest, which was filed by the Philippines’ Permanent Mission in New York before the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, said China’s claim over the Spratlys and its adjacent waters “would have no basis under international law, specifically the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110414hed3.html