Philippines to take China sea row to court (Manila invoked a UN treaty on territorial limits of

[pampango]

coastal states in their dispute with Beijing over South China Sea.)

The Philippines has formally sought international arbitration against China's claims to terrirtories in the potentially oil-rich waters of the South China Sea, as "unlawful".

Albert del Rosario, Filipino foreign secretary, said at a news conference on Tuesday that his office had summoned the Chinese ambassador to notify Beijing that Manila will bring both countries' conflicting claims over the territories to a tribunal operating under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

"The Philippines has exhausted almost all political and diplomatic avenues for a peaceful negotiated settlement of its maritime disputes with China," del Rosario said. "To this day, a solution is still elusive."

There are six governments with overlapping claims across the vast South China Sea. China claims it has sovereignty on virtually all of it.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/01/2013122133924211226.html

The nerve of a small country expecting a big country to accept the jurisdiction of an international tribunal. The big countries like to make the rules and force smaller ones to follow along.

And the Law of the Sea Treaty is a current lighting rod for the tea party and republican base. They see it as a road to One World Government as embodied by the UN.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021763333
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=901346
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002739364

I imagine that China will share our far-right's aversion to any involvement of the UN and the Law of the Sea Treaty.