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MANILA, Philippines – Retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio on Wednesday welcomed President Rodrigo Duterte’s assertion on the 2016 arbitration award that overturned China’s massive claims on the South China Sea before the General Assembly of The United Nations.
Carpio, who was one of the key officials behind the Philippines’ legal victory, said he personally praised Duterte’s “strong position” in the UN General Assembly.
“It is heartening that President Duterte has welcomed ‘the growing number of states that have come in support of the award,'” he said in a statement hours after Duterte’s speech.
Carpio said he hoped that “this is the policy that the Duterte administration will implement at all levels – in protecting our exclusive economic zone in the Western Philippine Sea, in negotiations for the Code of Conduct and in gaining the support of the international community for the enforcement of the arbitration award ”.
Carpio, along with former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, have previously asked the president to raise the arbitration ruling in the UN General Assembly.
In July 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, ruling in a maritime case brought by the Philippines, annulled China’s extensive claims in the South China Sea. But Duterte has played down the victory in favor of China’s economic investments.
Beijing has also rejected the court’s decision.
But in his address to world leaders at the UN, Duterte said: “The award is now part of international law, beyond commitment and beyond the reach of passing governments to dilute, diminish or abandon it.”
“We strongly reject attempts to undermine it,” he said.
Duterte also recognized the “growing number of states” that have shown support for the award. France, Germany and the UK have recently issued a joint verbal statement to the UN rejecting China’s broad claims in the disputed waters.
EDV
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