Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr on Monday, February 8, rejected retired Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio’s proposal for the Philippines to raise China’s new Coast Guard law with other Southeast Asian states at the United Nations (UN). 

Locsin dismissed the idea, citing the risk of reopening the Philippines’ 2016 landmark victory against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The 2016 Hague ruling asserted the Philippines’ sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea and struck down as illegal China’s expansive 9-dash line claim it used to claim virtually the entire South China Sea. 

“I have high respect for Tony Carpio…and I respect his legal mind. No…. I’m not going to go back there because the Coast Guard law has some claims as to the extent of their territory. That will reopen the arbitral award, and I’m not going to give them a chance to do that,” Locsin said in an interview on ANC Headstart. 

This stand is similar to Locsin’s earlier position on raising the 2016 Hague ruling at the United Nations General Assembly, which he likewise dismissed, saying the Philippines would lose any numbers game since many member-countries at the international body benefited from China’s development aid. 

On Monday, Locsin once again cited China’s influence at the UN as he shut down the idea of having the body tackle China’s controversial law.

“Chinese diplomacy has been very effective in most of the members of the United Nations, and I’m not going to throw our victory into that and let them decide,” he said.

‘Grave threat’

Carpio earlier warned China’s new law that allows its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels was a “grave threat” to world peace because it violated not only the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea but the UN Charter itself. 

In particular, Carpio – one of the legal minds behind the Philippines’ case against China – said China’s Coast Guard law clashed with international law that prohibited the use of force to settle territorial or maritime disputes, and mandated the peaceful settlement of disputes. 

“You cannot go to war and acquire maritime areas by force, and China has flipped this over,” Carpio said in a recent Rappler Seat of Power podcast. 

Still, Locsin said on Monday that he would not allow for the possibility of relitigating the Philippines’ victory. 

During the interview, Locsin also dismissed the idea of cooperating with other Southeast Asian claimant states to address China’s new law. 

“The National Defense will exclusively be a national endeavor. As we assert a very strong foreign policy, which we’ve been doing since Alan Cayetano, it’s for them to follow us,” he said. 

For now, Locsin said a diplomatic protest filed against China over its new law stands. Locsin earlier said he had filed the protest since the law could be taken as a “verbal threat of war” against countries that did not abide by it. 

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Locsin also said there was no need to dialogue with China about the new law yet since an exchange of diplomatic notes was “good enough” for now. 

He said: “So far, there is no incident. If there is an incident, I can assure you it will be more than just a protest.” (READ: Locsin: If China attacks PH Navy, I’ll call US) – Rappler.com