New Philippine ambassador says China is complying with arbitration ruling

By letting Philippine fishermen return to the disputed Scarborough Shoal, China was complying with an international arbitral ruling, just without acknowledging it, Manila’s incoming ambassador to Beijing said on Tuesday.

Jose Santiago Santa Romana, an academic and political appointee of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, said Beijing’s end to its blockade of the South China Sea shoal meant it was essentially following the July award by the tribunal in The Hague – a ruling China refused to recognise.

Filipino fishermen say that since Duterte returned from his high-profile visit to repair ties with China last month, the Chinese coastguard has largely left them alone.

“China is now complying with the arbitration court’s ruling, that’s what our American lawyer is saying,” he told Filipino businessmen at a forum, referring to Paul Reichler, the chief legal counsel for the Philippines in the case it lodged in 2013.

“China has insisted sovereignty over the Scarborough Shoal but promised to do something about our fishermen when the president raised the issue.”

The remarks by Santa Romana, a scholar who specialises in China, may not be to Beijing’s liking given its disdain for the tribunal. It has bristled at calls by Western countries to comply with the award by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which it called a “law-abusing tribunal”, a “farce” and a “puppet” of external forces.