Submitted by: Pareja, Joanna Marie C. ECO 12 201H / 9:00 10:30 AM / TTH Submitted to: Prof.

f. Michael Angelo P. Battung AB, MBA Submitted on: January 15, 2013 2012 YEARENDER: PH, CHINA AND SCARBOROUGH SHOAL (Case Study 6) The territorial dispute between the Philippines and China already caused a lot of inconvenience on both sides and I believe that it has to be resolved as soon as possible to enlighten both. We all know that China is a powerful country as well as a partner of our country in many ways, especially, economically. China has somehow helped in fueling our economy and giving jobs to our people and we could not bear to sacrifice that. China, being a more progressive and advanced economy tends to be proud and tough about the situation because of their ethnocentrism and belief that they are better and far more superior to the Philippines. China has done more things to express their disliking of the situation and for me, their resistance to cooperate and collaborate with the Philippines is their way of testing the latters patience and it is just a provocation to further prove that they are better than the Philippines. It is really good that despite all of Chinas effort to express their resistance, the Philippines has managed to keep calm and civil about it. I think that at this point in time, it is the right thing to do, after all, both countries benefit from each other in many ways. Other countries not involved in the dispute should try to be silent if not neutral regarding the situation to avoid making the situation worse than it already is. The Philippines and China should resolve this issue soon. If both parties claim and believe that Scarborough Shoal is theirs, then, they should not worry of defending their rights. If they really want it, then they should present their evidence and arguments in order to get it. The Philippines wants to use the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as its basis to settle the international dispute and I believe that it is the right thing to do because things change and that we should combat or align changes with using the most recent tools, laws, etc. to solve the problem / dispute. It is not right to use old maps as the bases aside from old treaties because those only cover what was meant to be covered at that time and it is not applicable in the present time. The Philippines is also claiming land areas that are not drawn by the Treaty of Paris. It should find a basis to prove its claim over those land areas aside from using old maps or old agreements. It should consider and definitely use the international law. The problem is that this world is full of overlapping, sometimes contradicting laws which make things more complicated. The United Nations should do something to help solve the problem and the international dispute over the Scarborough shoal should serve as a challenge for the government of the Philippines and China in terms of proving and presenting their points and bases about it.