The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday returned to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in asserting its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) where China had unitarily imposed a fishing ban recently. China’s fishing ban encompasses the whole of the South China Sea (SCS) but it encroaches on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in the eastern part of the SCS. The WPS includes the Philippines’ EEZ. Protesting China’s fishing ban that could affect the Filipino fishermen already displaced by the Chinese militia fleets’ presence in many parts within and outside of the WPS, the Philippines — through the DFA — said it does not recognize the foreign order.

Locus, S. (2021, May 20). DFA cites UNCLOS vs ban. Daily Tribune, pp. A1, A2.