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The Chinese on the West Philippine Sea is a very hot topic in the Philippines right now. With the election coming in 2022, President Duterte is under pressure to defend his stand on China’s ignoring the 2016 Arbitral victory of the Philippines.

In Philippine law, the West Philippine Sea refers only to the portions of the South China Sea, which the Philippine government claims to be part of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The area’s naming became official through Administrative Order No. 29 by President Benigno Aquino III on September 5, 2012. The administrative order asserts the Philippine claim over its EEZ in the South China Sea. It conveys the Philippine government’s position that it has sovereign rights under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea over the West Philippine Sea.

Since 2013, China has been island-building in the Spratly Islands and the Paracel…