By Roy Mabasa

A Chinese “expert” from the National Institute of South China Sea Studies (NISCSS) has chided Philippine officials for confusing themselves about the waters surrounding the Sibutu Strait where Chinese military ships were recently spotted making several unauthorized passages.

“It seems that the PH (Philippine) government officials are confused about the status of waters around the Sibutu passage–whether they are territorial sea or exclusive economic zone or archipelagic waters,” NISCSS Director Dr. Yan Yan said in a white paper, a copy of which was distributed by the Chinese Embassy in Manila on Tuesday.

Yan was referring to separate statements made by Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo who described the Sibutu Strait as either within the country’s “territorial waters” or “exclusive economic zone.”

He claimed that that the Philippine archipelagic waters claim is unclear even in its very own laws.

“The 1987 PH Constitution stated that there is no difference between internal waters and archipelagic waters while the UNCLOS distinguishes the two. In 2009, the Philippines updated its archipelagic baselines through R.A. 9522, otherwise known as an Act to Amend Certain Provisions of Republic Act No. 3046, as Amended by Republic Act No. 5446, to define the Archipelagic Baselines of the Philippines, and for Other Purposes. However, it does not identify whether the waters within the baselines are archipelagic waters or internal waters, and it did not specify the breadth of the territorial sea. Moreover, While it is a consequence of acquiring archipelagic status to designate archipelagic sea lanes passage, it has so far not submitted a proposal to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on the designation of archipelagic sea lanes passage,” Dr. Yan noted in his two-page paper.

The so-called Chinese expert claimed there is nothing illegal for the Chinese military vessels to navigate in the Sibutu Strait which he described as an “archipelagic sea lanes” where all types of vessels can sail through.

Citing certain provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Yan said: “According to Article 53 paragraph 12, ‘if an archipelagic State does not designate sea lanes or air routes, the right of archipelagic sea lanes passage may be exercised through the routes normally used for international navigation.”

Although lying wholly within Philippine archipelagic waters, he pointed out that Sibutu Strait is “an important transit route for international trade between the Pacific and the Indian Ocean with an amount of around 15000 annual ship passages.”

The NSICSS official further claimed that China did not notify the Philippine for the passage of its military ships in Sibutu Strait “simply because there is no requirement from the (Philippine) government.”

“Moreover, there is no domestic law requiring foreign vessels to get such clearance before passing through the waters within its archipelagic baseline,” Yan said.

He assured that there is no reason for China to send military vessels to post a security threat to damage bilateral relations with the Philippines “intentionally” and should not be a “cause for concern.”

“President Duterte is expected to make his fifth trip to China at the end of August. It is better to save time to discuss real significant issues such as how to achieve a Code of Conduct in the near future or resolve the long-standing disputes in a peaceful way,” he said.

Last week, the Philippine government filed a diplomatic protest against Beijing for the series of intrusions of its military vessels in Philippine territorial waters sometime in July and August.