Filipinos divided on territorial claims in South China Sea: documents

In his 1999 book "The Nanshas (Spratlys) Disputes," Dr. Robert Hsiao Shiching, a former professor of the University of Sto. Tomasin Manila, said the approximate area of 64,976 square miles of the islands has long been a portion of China's Nansha Islands and China's sovereignty over the Nanshas has been widely recognized by the international community.

Despite their geographical proximity to the western territorial boundaries of the Philippines, "the Nansha Islands are suited beyond the Philippine continental platform and separated from Philippine territory limits by the 1,300-2,600 meters deep Palawan Trench along the Palawan Passage," Dr. Shiching said in the book.

Manuel O. Chua, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Manila-based Tulay Foundation, Inc., said he gave a copy of the book to Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chairperson of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before she completed drafting the baseline bill, to avoid tension and promote understanding, cooperation and amity between the Philippines and China.

"It's a highly political issue. Actually many lawmakers are in favor of a more aggressive version of the bill," Chua said of the bill's passage.

Chua lamented the brewing tension in the South China Sea, and considered it a setback after China and countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed on a landmark code of conduct in 2002 -- the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

In the declaration, signatories agreed to seek a peaceful settlement of the disputes over the South China Sea through friendly coordination and negotiation and to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability.

Editor:Liu Anqi