INCOMING President Rodrigo Duterte maintained that the Philippines would assert its claims over disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea and Sabah.
China has been maintaining that the disputed areas fall within the “nine-dotted line” which it asserts as its territory. But the Philippines has challenged this claim in the international tribunal for the law of the sea, and said that China violated the United Nation’s Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, on exclusive economic zones and territorial seas.
Duterte said, “It is a question that the (disputed territories) are well within the 200-kilometer exclusive economic zone of the country.” He said that “if you put something there that would obstruct or impede movement it’s a violation of our rights and the law of the seas.”
He said he had raised this issue with Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua when the latter paid him a courtesy call here last week.
Duterte likewise maintained that his administration “will stick to our claim” on Sabah. (Eagle News Service)
