THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES RESPONSE ON THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA TERRITORIAL CLAIM: SOUTH CHINA SEA (2012-2016)

Abstract

South China Sea is known with its rich natural resources such as oil and gas, and fisheries. Philippine made its claim with the basis of UNCLOS and claimed what is in the 200nm of the Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ) in South China Sea dispute. In the other hand, China claimed everything in South China Sea using historical rights. The tension between Philippine and China started to rise in 1995 due to Mischief Incident. In order to respond China.s territorial claim that is overlapping with Philippine, Philippine started to address the issue in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1998 when Philippine became the Chairman of ASEAN. Philippine.s responses brought result, it produced Declaration of Conduct (DoC), and later developed into CoC (Code of Conduct) in 2002. Philippine also raised the claim case to Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in 2013, in order to ensure that China.s claim with the basis of historical rights over South China Sea is illegal. While so, Philippine is also planning to increase the military quality by increasing the military budget each year.