Philippines’ belligerence towards China out of step with Asean trend

The Philippines’ confrontational approach to maritime territorial disputes, such as its championing of the China-sea-arbitration-ruling" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="118621" data-entity-type="event">2016 China-sea" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="8346" data-entity-type="location">South China Sea arbitration ruling, has not only failed to resolve regional tensions, it also risks undermining Asean centrality.In May, addressing Japan’s National Diet, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr announced that Manila would mark the ruling’s 10th anniversary in July, an occasion he said “embodies our determination to resolve disputes through peaceful means”. That is one interpretation. Another deserves equal consideration.The ruling has long faced credible legal objections, such as that the tribunal exceeded its jurisdiction. China had explicitly excluded maritime delimitation and historic title disputes from compulsory arbitration through its 2006 declaration under Article 298 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). Whether the tribunal was right to override that objection remains a matter of genuine legal debate.