The Emerging Contours of the Philippines’ Maritime Strategy

The Philippines is also pursuing a more robust collaboration with other regional powers such as South Korea and India with whom it shares a common vison of the Indo-Pacific.5 The recent delivery of the Brahmos anti-ship missile system from India for the Philippine Marine Corps indicates the positive trajectory of the defence relations which will support the architecture for regional stability. [...] Manila claimed it was entitled to ‘establish the outer limits of its continental shelf’ up to 350 nautical miles (648 kilometers) off the western island of Palawan, the maximum allowed under the UNCLOS.10 As per Article 76 of the UNCLOS: The continental shelf of a coastal State comprises the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural pro. [...] The undersea region where the Philippines seeks to formally establish its sovereign rights under the UNCLOS covers the Spratlys Islands and overlaps with the claims of other coastal states—China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. [...] Malaysia requested the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf not to examine and qualify the Philippines’ Partial Submission as it clearly disregards its indisputable sovereignty over the state of Sabah.13 As per the Manila Accord signed on 31 July 1963, an agreement was reached between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to resolve the territorial dispute over Sabah peacefully.1. [...] As indicated on the map in Figure 2, Sabah’s 1,000-mile shoreline is washed by three bodies of water—the South China Sea on the West, the Sulu Sea on the northeast, and the Celebes Sea on the southeast.