PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said.

“Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday.

He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.”

Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty.

He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive states but also from those who have been oppressed.”

Tarriela, spokesman for the PCG in the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea, also posted on his X account photos of him speaking before members of the National Press Club of Australia.

The Philippines has been asserting sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea using the 2016 arbitral ruling that upheld the country’s exclusive economic zone, as well as invalidated China’s nine-dash line claim over the entire South China Sea.

Despite this, China has remained aggressive with the Philippines, resulting in hostilities between their respective maritime forces and even damage to the Philippines’ patrol and supply vessels.