The Philippines’s right to Scarborough Shoal

Scarborough Shoal is within 200 miles from Philippine Special Economic Zone. It was within the effective jurisdiction of the Philippines until China grasped it in 2012.

The Philippine claims are based on the provisions of several treaties. According to international law, the Philippines accepted arbitration as it is an open, friendly, permanent and rule-based dispute settlement mechanism. Philippine lawsuits were taken against unilateral and aggressive action by China to raise illegal claims against almost the entire South China Sea. Arbitration promotes the international rule under the Charter of the United Nations and the rule of law that governs the peaceful resolution of conflict. The Philippines respects the award of the arbitral tribunal and hopes China will do the same.

The Philippines welcomes the measures taken by the United States and other countries to support voyages and freedom of flight freedom and unjustified legitimate businesses.

Talking and acting to believe that we will benefit the Philippines is one thing, but as other countries express their support for the Philippines and serious concern about the security situation in South China, it is a bet explain. From the perspective of the international community, it is clear who is the provoker.

During the Spanish era of the Philippines, a map of 1774 was created. It was clearly named Scarborough Shoals as Panacot Shoal which is the characteristic of the sovereignty of the Spanish Philippines completely. The name of the current village was chosen by Captain Philip De Auvergne and his East Indian company, East Indian Scarborough, stayed on the rock for a while on September 12, 1784 and headed for China. When the Philippines won independence in the 19th and 20th centuries, the Scarborough group was handed over to the Philippine sovereign republic by the colonial government.

In the several official Philippine maps issued by Spain and the United States from the 18th century to the 20th century, the Scarborough group is shown as Philippine territory. The map of the 18th century "Carta hydrographica y chorographica de las Islas Filipinas" (1734) showed that the scarborough shawl was named Panacott Shawl. The map also shows the shape of the herd that is consistent with the current map currently available. In 1792 another map drawn by Malaspina expedition and published in Madrid, Spain in 1808, also shows that Bajo de Masinloc is part of the Philippine territory. The map shows the route of Malaspina expedition in the shallow and its surrounding areas. It was reproduced on the map of the 1939 Philippine census published in Manila one year later. Another topographical map drawn in 1820 shows that herd known as "Baho Scalbro" which is part of Sunbaru (Zambales).