Territorial Dispute In The Philippines

Territory is one of the central political concepts of the modern world and, indeed, functions as the primary way the world is divided and controlled politically (Elden, 2013).Amazingly little has been published about the concept of territory unlike that of territorial disputes. The territorial dispute between China, the Philippines, and other ASEAN countries over the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea is a proof of this. To understand the context of today’s situation, it is imperative that we discuss the history of this dispute. Overlapping claims over the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea occurred since colonialism era in the 19th century and the main event in the history that contributed to the complexity of sovereign disputes over the territorial waters was Japan’s defeat in the World War II and the San Francisco Treaty in 1951 that forced japan to leave the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea (Kosandi, 2014). The first state to claim the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea was China in 1279 which drew territorial map of its powers including the waters which is better known today as the “Nine-Dash Line”. Unlike China, Philippines’ claim is not based on Pre-War history of occupation. In 1947, Tomas Cloma, a Filipino businessman established settlement on eight (8) islets in the Spratly Islands that he called the Kalayaan Islands and he later convey the islets to the Philippine Government. The Philippine Government declared in 1971 and 1978 that the Kalayaan is part of