The next best thing to an official statement

Yesterday I wrote about how the opportunity to take up the South China conflict through diplomacy was thrown away by officials who should have known better. And to think that so many of our kababayans depend on fishing for a living. It remains true that the single most important task for government is to protect the livelihoods of its many poor.

We share the guilt equally with bad government when we form opinions without relevant information. Ambassador Encomienda submitted a book review on “Solving Disputes for Regional Cooperation and Development in the South China Sea: A Chinese Perspective” to a newspaper but it was rejected because it was too long. Space is more important to newspapers than enlightening a misinformed public.

He describes the book as “compelling reading for South China Sea watchers” for two reasons. The first is the credentials of the author.  The second is the semi-official character of the book.

“The book provides a Chinese perspective on the disputes and a Chinese proposition for a peaceful solution from an authoritative Chinese writer, “ Encomienda said in his review of the book.

There have been other Chinese authors on the South China issue but Dr. Wu Shicun has direct knowledge of what he is talking about.

 â€œShicun has been directly involved with the subject for two decades as a scholar and later as president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies (China). The Institute, which he was instrumental in establishing, is a Track 1 ½ entity on South China Sea issues under the policy guidance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China (http://www.nanhai.org.cn).

At the time this book was written, Dr. Wu was also the Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office of Hainan Province, which has jurisdiction over the South China Sea islands. “

He has the credentials to explain China’s position that can lead to peaceful resolution of the South China Sea controversy.

“Although current controversies revolve around sovereignty and sovereign rights, China has not publicly made known its position on the jurisdictional aspects of its claim, in particular the juridical character of the so-called nine-dash line, making this book a valuable and scarce resource.”

It is the next best thing to an official pronouncement from the Government of China, Encomienda asserts.  But this column doubts very much it is read in our Department of Foreign Affairs.

The book endeavors to put the controversy in “the context of modern times – with interdependent economies making political boundaries a critical issue.” That is at bottom of the difficulties. Peace and good order in the South China Sea affects the security and stability of the region that in turn has international strategic and geopolitical implications.

“A politico-military character could lead to a worst-case scenario for the South China Sea, a nuclear cockfight where the two main contenders are a regional nuclear power and the world’s nuclear superpower. The collateral damage would fall on the other regional countries, which would be only pawns in this game of major powers.”

This was not foreseen until recently.

Except for occasional incidents of marauding petty piracy, the South China Sea was always a sea of tranquility, the book notes.

“ In times past the dominant regional trading civilization and influential overseer in the region was China — the Middle Kingdom as it was then known.

But since the time of the Middle Kingdom, the world has changed and so has the situation in the South China Sea. In a drawn-out regional transition, the mercantile and social order of countries around the South China Sea has been intruded upon by outside major powers; resources have been wantonly exploited and markets forcibly opened, and domestic socio-political order unduly influenced.“

Moreover, oil became a strategic commodity in the early seventies, and the South China Sea is viewed as potentially oil rich.

Ironically, the review says that “most of the problems came about because of the 1982 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the international agreement to govern the peaceful uses of the Ocean which also provides for peaceful settlement of disputes arising from its implementation. “

“Looking back to before the UNCLOS, one finds no maritime jurisdictional issues in the South China Sea.

The UNCLOS woke otherwise dormant notions of sovereignty or sovereign right jurisdiction in the South China Sea, and set off the current, fierce competition amongst certain, so-called, claimant countries,” Encomienda writes.

 â€œThe main issue is whether or not UNCLOS is applicable. A collateral issue belabored by others, especially by outside powers, is freedom of navigation. Freedom of navigation, in the current situation, is merely an anticipatory concern and a reaction to the nine-dash line, which China has still not defined. States, both directly involved and extra-regional, all feel that a peaceful solution must be rules-based, through the application of UNCLOS prescriptions. But there seem to be differing interpretations of “rules-based.”

China’s position is that the UNCLOS cannot be the basis for determining maritime jurisdictional entitlements since the inception of its claim, although it was not directly stated, predates the UNCLOS.

The book is important because it provides “a Chinese idea for a possible path towards resolving the current situation.”

An arms race, (including submarines, according to a recent New York Times editorial entitled “The Submarine Race in Asia”, January 7, 2014) is thought to be building up in the region. The smaller claimants, doing what they can within their existing military means, continue to assert themselves. China reciprocates by ratcheting up military and police action, actions that can be interpreted as consolidating its position. “

“In the end, the differing perspectives among claimant countries will lead to a conclusion that no one perspective can be acceptable to all. But the only chance for claimant states to benefit from the resources is through cooperation.”

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Here’s a plug for Violin whiz Chino Gutierrez who has been described by respected conductor and violinist Oscar Yatco as “the Cecile Licad of the violin.” He will play at the Insular Life Auditorium, Insular Life Tower in Filinvest Corporate City, Alabang on Feb. 8, 2014 at 8 pm..

The 23-year old Gutierrez began his violin career at age 7 under the tutelage of Alfonso “Coke” Bolipata, He won second prize in NAMCYA and eventually first prize before he even reached his teens. Corazon Pineda Kabayao will accompany him as collaborating artist in the Insular Life concert. For ticket inquiries pls. call (02)218-1864/0915-189-2998 and 0917-817-7261.