A.

In summary, write a 100+ word reflection paper on what you have learned in this
module.

What I have learned is the important things that our country has. First about the Philippine
archipelago, the Philippines has more than 1,700 with a coastline that stretches 10,850
miles. The archipelago has no land boundaries. Taiwan is the nearest country to the north,
Brunei and Malaysia to the southwest, Indonesia to the south, Vietnam to the west, and
China to the northwest. The Philippines is surrounded by the South China Sea in the west,
the Pacific Ocean in the east, the Sulu and Celebes Seas in the south, and the Bashi
Channel in the north. The archipelago is geologically a part of the Philippine Mobile Belt,
which is situated between the Philippine Sea Plate, the South China Sea Basin of the
Eurasian Plate, and the Sundra Plate. The Mindanao Trench also known as the Philippine
Trench is an 820-mile submarine trench that is found in the east of the Philippine Mobile Belt
and a part of a collision of tectonic plates. The Galathea Depth, which is the deepest point in
the Philippines Sea Plate, has a depth of 34,580 feet. The Philippine Fault System consists
of a series of seismic faults that produce several earthquakes per year, most of which cannot
be felt.

Second is the Philippines’ territorial sea claims extend 100 nautical miles off the coastline all
around the country under the 1898 Treaty of Paris. A 1978 presidential decree increased the
claim to 285 nautical miles into the South China Sea, encompassing the disputed Spratly
Islands, which is known as the Kalayaan (Freedom) Islands in the Philippines. The United
States indicates that the claim is excessive, thereby violating the international freedom of
navigation. The Philippines also claims sovereignty over its continental shelf, extending 200
nautical miles from its coastline, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea. The Philippines claims sovereignty over the Spratly Islands, which is locally known as
the Kalayaan (Freedom) Islands. China, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam make similar claims.
The islands at stake are those with underwater oil and natural gas resources. The 2002
Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea eased tensions in the Spratly
Islands, but it fell short of a legal code of conduct. The national oil companies of China, the
Philippines, and Vietnam signed a joint accord in 2005 to conduct marine seismic studies in
the Spratly Islands.

The Philippines also claims Malaysia’s Sabah state. The Sultanate of Brunei granted this
region to the Sultanate of Sulu as a reward for assisting him against his enemies. The
Sultanate of Sulu leased Sabah to the British North Borneo Company in 1878 for the sum of
5,000 Malaysian ringgits annually and weapons to defend against the Spaniards. In 1920,
Sabah was made a British crown colony. In 1963, the British formally ceded Sabah to
Malaysia. In 2003, violent mass deportations of Filipinos residing in Sabah led to discussions
about the claim. Malaysia still pays the annual rent of 5,000 Malaysian ringgits to the Sultan
of Sulu’s heirs.
I have learned a lot and I will teach it to the youth so they will know the truth.
B.

The South China Sea is a semi-enclosed sea in the western Pacific Ocean “spanning an
area of almost 3.5 million square kilometers”. It is a “crucial shipping lane, a rich fishing
ground, and believed to hold substantial oil and gas resources”. It is about several States. It
lies to the “south of China and the islands of Hainan and Taiwan; to the west of the
Philippines; to the east of Vietnam; and to the north of Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and
Indonesia”. It includes hundreds of geographical features, either above or below water.Five
states have competing claims. It is of interest to note that China claims sovereignty and
historic rights over all the islands and other maritime features of South China Sea which lie
beyond the 12 mile territorial sea limit of China as well as that of any other coastal
State.China claims to have exercised authority and control historically over the entire South
China Sea prior to and during the period of its colonization and occupation by Japan. These
“historic rights” are illustrated by a map depicting what has since come to be known as the
dotted/nine-dash line. The dotted line encloses the main island features of the South China
Sea: the Pratas Islands, the Paracel Islands, the Macclesfield Bank, and the Spratly Islands.
The dotted line also captures James Shoal which is as far south as 4 degrees north latitude.
On its significance, it is noted in an essay that,

The study carried out here reveals that, though termed differently, the nine-dash line can be
best defined, in view of China’s long-standing practice, as a line to preserve both its title to
territory and its historic rights. It has three meanings. First, it represents the title to the island
groups that it encloses. In other words, within the nine-dash line in the South China Sea,
China has sovereignty over the islands and other insular features, and has sovereignty,
sovereign rights, and jurisdiction—in accordance with UNCLOS—over the waters and
seabed and subsoil adjacent to those islands and insular features. Second, it preserves
Chinese historic rights in fishing, navigation, and such other marine activities as oil and gas
development in the waters and on the continental shelf surrounded by the line. Third, it is
likely to allow for such residual functionality as to serve as potential maritime delimitation
lines.. Vietnam also claims historic titles and rights to parts of the South China Sea. In
addition, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines have coastal
projections into the South China Sea with maritime claims and overlapping entitlements
under the 1982 Convention. Malaysia and Vietnam have filed a joint submission before the
Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. China opposed this consideration by a
note verbale of 7 May 2009 attaching a copy of its claim as represented by “nine-dash”
line.Given the complex nature of geography of the South China Sea, the number of
claimants involved and conflicting legal bases of claims made, the countries of the region
and in particular the States having conflicting claims have been engaged in active
consultations on the best possible means of resolving the disputes in a peaceful manner. As
part of these consultations, China and the South East Asian Nations concluded on 4
November 2002 a Declaration on Code of Conduct (DOC) in this respect under the auspices
of the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In accordance with paragraph 4 of
the DOC, the parties agreed “to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful
means […] through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign States directly
concerned, in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law,
including the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea”.All the countries abutting the South
China Sea are parties to the Convention. China in particular also made a declaration on 25
August 2006 to state that it does not accept any of the procedures provided for in section 2
of Part XV of the Convention with respect to all the categories of disputes referred to in
Paragraph1(a)-(c) of Article 298 of the Convention. The Philippines, which also submitted an
“understanding”, however initiated arbitration under Annex VII of the Convention on 22
January 2013 against China seeking to resolve a dispute over the Parties’ respective
“maritime entitlements” and the lawfulness of Chinese activities in the South China Sea.
5. The Philippines in particular sought a declaratory award on three interrelated matters:
First, that China’s claims regarding the rights and obligations in regard to the waters,
seabed, and maritime features of the South China Sea, on the basis of historic rights and as
depicted in the map containing the nine-dash line, are invalid because they are inconsistent
with the Convention. According to the Philippines the dispute it has with China is solely
governed by the Convention. Second, it seeks determination as to whether, under the
Convention, certain maritime features claimed by both China and the Philippines “are
properly characterized as islands, rocks, low-tide elevations, submerged banks”; and on the
type of maritime rights they are capable of generating. The Philippines focused on this
connection, in particular, on Scarborough Shoal and eight specific features in the Spratly
Island group. The main objective of the Philippines in raising these two issues is to question
Chinese claims to sovereignty over these maritime features and using them as a basis for its
maritime entitlements. Third, “the Philippines seek declarations that China violated the
Convention by interfering with the exercise of the Philippines sovereign rights and freedoms
under the Convention and through construction and fishing activities that have harmed the
marine environment”.

source:https://academic.oup.com/chinesejil/article/15/2/265/2548386