China released over the weekend a portrait of Panatag Shoal (known in China as Huangyan Dao) that included its baseline claim of its territorial sea after the Philippine government passed two laws that affirmed its rights over it.
China’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, Nov. 10, that it released a map that declared the baselines of territorial sea adjacent to Panatag “as a natural step by the Chinese government."
The move, the ministry said, was done to lawfully strengthen its “marine management and is consistent with international law and common practices.”
It was also in supposed accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and Beijing’s law on territorial sea and contiguous zone.
However, China’s own claim over Panatag’s baseline came after President Marcos signed into law the Philippine Maritime Zones Act and the Philippines Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act that affirm the country’s sovereign rights over its maritime zone, including the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), part of which is being claimed by China as its own.
The National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria) said it will also come out with a new Philippine map that will include the country’s jurisdiction over its EEZ, institutionally called the West Philippine Sea.
China’s claim over Panatag was based on its supposedly yet unilaterally-claimed “ten-dash line.”
The Philippines’ claim over the shoal was based on UNCLOS and affirmed by the 2016 Arbitral Ruling on the South China Sea.
For China, what President Marcos did was aimed at solidifying the allegedly illegal arbitral ruling in the form of domestic law.
China said the move “severely violates China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea.”
“China firmly opposes it and will continue to do everything necessary in accordance with law to firmly defend its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests,” it then warned.