By Priam Nepomuceno
MANILA – China’s Nine-Dash Line claim and its expansion plan in the Pacific Ocean are the reasons behind its social media posts against the Philippines, Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said on Thursday.
“Ang nasa likod talaga noon, ang kontrol nila sa Nine-Dash Line. Dahil unang-una, gusto nilang solohin yung resources na nasa ilalim dyan. Pangalawa, gusto nila ma-isantabi na figuratively ang Pilipinas mula South China Sea hanggang sa dominasyon nila sa Pacific Ocean (The reason behind that is their control of the Nine-Dash Line. No. 1, they want to exploit the resources under it, and No. 2, they want to set the Philippines aside, figuratively, from the South China Sea, to dominate the Pacific Ocean),” Teodoro said in an interview with DZBB.
China’s Nine-Dash Line is what China has been using to claim over 90 percent of the South China Sea. It overlaps with the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.
The 2016 ruling of an Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), rejected the legal basis of China’s sweeping claims to historic rights within the so-called Nine-Dash line and affirmed the Philippines’ maritime entitlements.
Teodoro said the Philippines is the biggest obstacle to China’s maritime ambition, also noting the expansive area from Batanes to Palawan, which holds resources and provides “control of sea lines of communication.” (PNA)
