How can China acknowledge the arbitral ruling favoring the Philippines’ claim in the West Philippine Sea when its own government has been teaching Chinese students from grade school “false narratives” to validate its expansive claims in the disputed area?

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Thursday asked this rhetorical question in a forum where he discussed the Philippines’ maritime dispute with China which was brought before the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration under the previous administration.

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In 2016, the tribunal ruled against Beijing’s so-called nine-dash line which claimed almost the entire disputed area in the South China Sea.

Carpio, a member of the Philippine panel in the arbitration case, said that for years, every Chinese student has been taught from grade school to college “false narratives” reinforcing China’s “false claims” until they learn to acknowledge it “by heart.”

Until their people “changed their mind,” the Chinese government cannot honor the arbitration ruling, Carpio said.

“Because if the Chinese government complies with the ruling, the Chinese people might throw them out. So this is our problem now. We’ve solved the legal problem, now how we can convince the Chinese people that this historical narrative is the false history of the century, the fake news of the century?” Carpio said.

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