South China Sea: Philippines to drag China to international court for damaging coral reefs in EEZ
Philippine leader Marcos Jr with China's Xi (File photo)
The Philippines is taking steps to drag China to an international tribunal over alleged harvesting and destruction ofcoral reefs within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea.
Manila on Thursday (Sept 21) said it would pursue legal action after its agencies assess the extent of environmental damage in the Iroquois Reef in the Spratly islands.
On Wednesday, the Office of the Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said in a statement that they were currently in the “fact-finding and data gathering stage” before presenting the case before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague.
Watch:South China Sea row: Malaysia, China to have open communication over the South China Sea
The study "was prompted not only by the alleged destruction of reefs but also by other incidents and the overall situation in the West Philippine Sea," Guevarra told Reuters, adding that a report and recommendation would be sent to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the foreign ministry.
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China denies allegations
China on Thursday fired back at Manila for levelling “baseless” accusations against Beijing.
“The Philippines’ accusations have no factual basis. We urge the relevant parties of the Philippines not to use fabricated information to create a political drama from fiction,” a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said.
“If the Philippines truly cares about the ecological environment of the South China Sea, it should tow away its illegally grounded warship (Sierra Madre) at Ren’ai Reef as soon as possible, stop discharging sewage into the ocean, and not let the rusting warship bring brings irreversible harm to the ocean,” the statement added.
Philippines-China ties
If the Philippines pursues this legal action against Beijing, it would mark its second such action concerning South China Sea disputes, following their victory in 2016. Nevertheless, China did not acknowledge the ruling from the PCA.
The Philippines and China are entangled in a sovereignty dispute over multiple islands in the contested South China Sea.
Beijing, asserting its claim over nearly the entire South China Sea, also faces territorial disagreements with Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Brunei in the same region.
Recent months have witnessed mounting tensions between the two nations, as Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. strengthens his country's defence alliance with the United States, reversing the approach taken by his predecessor, who sought closer ties with China.
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