Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia are asserting their sovereign rights to their maritime zones against China’s claims. These countries do not go to war against China, and neither does China go to war against these countries. A country does not need to go to war to assert its sovereign rights. There are lawful and peaceful means of asserting sovereign rights. War is not even option because the UN Charter outlaws resort to war to settle territorial or maritime disputes. Moreover, the Philippine Constitution renounces war as an instrument of national policy, which means the Philippines cannot go to war to enforce the arbitral ruling.
China does not possess Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ) which is beyond the 12-nautical mile territorial seas of disputed islands or high-tide geologic features. Naval powers like the US, UK, France, Australia, Japan, and Canada regularly sail in our EEZ in the West Philippine Sea, proving that China is not in possession of our EEZ in the West Philippine Sea. The President should not say that China is in possession of our EEZ in the West Philippine Sea because factually China is not in possession.
