Opinion | Manila to tackle sea row 'with or without China' at UN
Arbitration looms under UN convention to settle territorial dispute over Beijing's 'nine-dash line'
The Philippines is about to wade into unchartered waters in its relations with China over the South China Sea.
Once China ignores - as expected - a 30-day deadline expiring today to appoint its own UN arbitrator to handle a legal challenge from the Philippines over its controversial claims, Manila will be free to push ahead without China's consent in a rare move.
A Foreign Ministry statement this week made clear that Beijing had no interest in dignifying Manila's move, dismissed by some mainland analysts as a stunt.
China's envoy in Manila, Ma Keqing , met Filipino officials on Tuesday, formally rejecting Manila's Statement and Notification of Claim to challenge China's "nine-dash line" under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. A spokesman said Manila's move was "legally flawed" and had violated the consensus stipulated in Asean's 2002 declaration on the South China Sea.
"China resolutely opposes Manila's move," the spokesman said. "Philippines should not take any measures that will complicate the matter."
The Philippines, however, seems determined to do just that - a situation now being closely watched by an anxious region.
China's refusal to pick its own representative to a five-judge panel will not stop the Philippines from having the case heard, nor will it give Beijing a legal right to ignore any future ruling it does not like, according to lawyers and scholars. Effective enforcement would be another matter.