Grandstanding cannot cover up illegal moves

Since taking office as the Philippines' Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mr Albert F. del Rosario has spared no effort to defame China on all kinds of international occasions and, in that process, managed to enhance his own visibility. On 30 November, at the arbitral tribunal set up at the unilateral request of his country, Mr del Rosario once again demonstrated to the world his exceptional talent in performance.

At the hearing, Mr del Rosario went to great lengths to win sympathy for his country by depicting it as a helpless underdog with much grievance. But he made no mention, none whatsoever, of the historical facts of how, over the years, the Philippines encroached upon China's rights and interests in the South China Sea. As a matter of fact, the root cause of his country's dispute with China over the South China Sea is no other than his country's occupation of some Chinese islands and reefs in the South China Sea and its assertion of illegal territorial claims since the 1970s. Neither the international treaties that establish the scope of the Philippines' territory nor the Philippines' own constitution before 1997 includes the Nansha Islands or the Huangyan Island in the country's map. No matter how hard he tries to frame the facts or confuse the concepts, Mr del Rosario would not be able to cover up the nature of the matter, i.e. the infringement of China's lawful rights and interests by the Philippines.

At the hearing, a scare-mongering Mr del Rosario made far-fetched accusations against China. His statement of a limited length contained a litany of astonishing yet, alas, totally untrue allegations against China, such as using "the threat of force" against the Philippines, violating international law including UNCLOS and even the UN Charter, building "a Berlin Wall of the Sea", "intentionally" creating "one of the biggest emerging environmental disasters in the world", and "interfering with" the Philippinos' efforts to "promote social progress" and "achieve a better standard of life". One could hardly expect such fabricated and wanton allegations from any respectable foreign secretary.