IT is a good thing that the islands—artificial and otherwise—in the South China/West Philippine Sea are basically “uninhabited.”
Run through some definitions with me. A territory is “an area of land under the jurisdiction of a ruler.” Then again, all “territories” started as an empty piece of land that was unoccupied. When a family, clan, or tribe moved in, presumably with some sort of leader in charge, then you progress to “nation.”
Nation: “A body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular territory.” It is a small jump to “country,” “a nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory.”
It was not that long ago that most of the world was “unoccupied territory.” Thitu Island, or Pag-asa Island, is a good example of how it all evolves.
There are historical records of the island having been inhabited at various times in history by fishermen from Vietnam and China. From 1930, the colonial government in French Indochina sent troops to Thitu Island and in 1933, the French Governor decided to annex the Spratlys to Bà Ria Province. During World War II, both French Indochina and Imperial Japanese troops moved in. The Republic of Vietnam Navy put a sovereignty stele on Thitu Island in 1963.
There were no permanent settlements until May 1956 when Filipino Tomas Cloma claimed part of the Spratlys as his own and called it “Free Territory of Freedomland.” They had land, people, a government, and a flag.
In October 1956, two ships of the Republic of China Navy (Taiwan), forced Cloma to recognize that Freedomland was Chinese territory and to leave or die. He left. Philippine President Marcos had Cloma arrested for “impersonating a military officer,” while wearing a uniform of the Freedomland Navy.
In December 1974, Tomas Cloma was arrested again and forced to sign a document conveying to the Philippines whatever rights he might have had in the “Free Territory of Freedomland” for one peso. Marcos issued a Presidential Decree in 1978 to include the majority of the Spratly Islands as being Philippine territory.
Pag-asa Island qualifies by virtually every definition as part of Philippine sovereign territory, like Siargao Island, even though it is 480 kilometers from Puerto Princesa.
However, it could just as easily and legally be Đào Thi Tú (Vietnamese) or Zhōngyè Dăo (Mandarin Chinese) had an adventurer from Vietnam or Taiwan, like Cloma, set up on the island. Nothing in history is uniquely Filipino about the island except Filemon Cloma and his brother Tomas. President Elpidio Quirino in 1950 said that “as long as China [ROC] held the Spratlys, the Philippines would not press its own claim.”
The Crimean Peninsula was first an ancient Greek colony. Later the Persians, followed by the Romans, took over. In the 9th century, Byzantium established the Theme of Cherson. In succession, the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire in 1783, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1921, and the Soviet Union all claimed and held Crimea.
The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree transferring the Crimean region to Ukraine in 1954. A 2014 referendum on joining Crimea with Russia was supported by a 96.7 percent of voters but was denounced as illegitimate with the UN approving a resolution declaring the vote illegal and invalid. But, so what.
Marcos decided by Presidential Decree that Pag-asa Island was part of the Philippines. Putin decided by a people’s referendum that Crimea is part of Russia and he backs it up with his military. Eventually, although everyone hopes that it will not happen, the claims in the South China/West Philippine Sea will probably go military. That is the way the world has always worked.
E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis provided by AAA Southeast Equities Inc.
2 comments
Like what Mao has always claimed to be evident, no might, no right.
carpio will not like this.