PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed two laws on Friday, November 8, 2024, reaffirming the extent of the Philippines’ maritime territories and right to resources, including in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea), angering China, which maintains the hotly disputed waterway almost entirely.

China’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the Philippines’ ambassador to China to lodge a “severe protest”.

The ministry condemned the move as an attempt to “consolidate the illegal award of the South China Sea arbitration case through domestic law.”

Clashes between the Chinese and Philippine coast guards and naval forces in the disputed sea passage have increased alarmingly since last year. This raised fears that the United States – a longtime ally of the Manila treaty – could be drawn into a major conflict.

The laws, called the Philippine Maritime Zones Act and the Philippine Archipelago Seaways Act, were signed by Marcos in a nationally televised ceremony attended by top military and national security officials. They further cement Manila’s rejection of China’s claims to virtually the entire sea passage and stipulate jail terms and heavy fines for violators.

“They signal our resolve to protect our marine resources, preserve our rich biodiversity and ensure that our waters remain a source of life and livelihood for all Filipinos,” Marcos said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said the move “gravely violates China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea.”

“China strongly condemns and strongly opposes,” she said.

In a new national map it released last year, the Chinese government delineated its claim to virtually the entire South China Sea with vague dashed lines that drew protests and pushback from rival coastal states and the government, including Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines. .

The Maritime Zones Act demarcates key parts of the Philippine archipelago’s territory and peripheral waters, where it has full sovereignty and sovereign rights under international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Philippine officials said.

These areas include the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone, a 200-nautical-mile (370-kilometer) stretch of water where a coastal state like the Philippines has exclusive rights to use energy and other resources. Foreign ships and aircraft have an internationally recognized right, known as “innocent passage”, to pass through such an area as long as the security of the coastal state is not threatened.

The Archipelago Seaways Act allows the Philippines to designate sea lanes and air routes in the archipelago where foreign ships and aircraft may transit in accordance with its regulations and in accordance with international law.

“These legal instruments strengthen our territory and increase our ability to protect our country against any violation,” said National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano.

Marcos said the laws comply with international law and Unclos, but many of their provisions are in stark contrast to Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea and will likely be rejected and defied by China.

It is unclear how the Philippines might implement the laws, which take effect 15 days after they are published in the government’s official gazette or a newspaper, given China’s increasingly aggressive actions to and supports the claims.

Copies of the laws signed by Marcos were not immediately available, but a final version of the maritime zones bill declared that “all artificial islands constructed in the Philippine EEZ belong to the Philippine government.”

China has turned seven disputed reefs into what are now missile-proof island bases, including Mischief Reef, which is in the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone.

The law based the Philippines’ maritime rights on Unclos, Philippine laws and a 2016 international arbitration award that invalidated China’s expansive territorial claims on historical grounds.

China refused to participate in that arbitration, rejected the ruling and continues to defy it. Its massive fleets of coast guard, navy, air force and alleged militias have used water cannons, military lasers and dangerous sea and air maneuvers to intimidate rival forces it accuses of straying into what Beijing calls its territory .

Washington has repeatedly warned that it is bound to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Philippine forces, aircraft or ships come under armed attack in the disputed waters. (AP)