Manila should settle disputes through talks

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered a speech at the 2024 Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on May 31, claiming that some international legal procedures are the expression of "good faith", reiterating the validity of the 2016 South China Sea arbitration awards, and saying that Manila has enacted domestic legislation in accordance with the South China Sea arbitration awards.

According to Marcos Jr., the South China Sea arbitration procedure conformed to the principle of good faith. But this implication is groundless. The reality is that Manila has neither fulfilled its international obligations nor interpreted or applied the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in good faith.

First, the claim by the Philippines is devoid of any factual or legal basis, and thus violates the principle of good faith. Due to the Philippines' claim, the dispute was fragmented into various discrete pieces and brought under the jurisdiction of the Arbitral Tribunal by camouflaging them as mere disputes over maritime entitlements or activities at sea.