Metro Manila, Philippines – Former Philippine lead counsel Paul Reichler said former President Rodrigo Duterte abandoned efforts to build international support for the landmark 2016 arbitral victory against China, a move he said squandered momentum after the ruling and made it harder for succeeding administrations to advance Manila’s maritime claims.
In an exclusive interview on The Newsmaker, marking the 10th anniversary of the arbitral award, Reichler said the legal team expected the Philippines to capitalize on the unanimous ruling by leading a coalition of countries that support international law in the South China Sea.
“We expected that there would be a joint effort led by the Philippines joined by other states that share rights in the South China Sea, as well as other states that have historically been the greatest proponents of the rule of law,” Reichler said.
Reichler said the strategy changed after Duterte took office, just days before the tribunal issued its ruling on July 12, 2016.
“The key turning point was the change of government in the Philippines. The policy of the Philippine government changed radically with the accession of President Duterte,” he said.
He said the Duterte administration abandoned plans to strengthen an international coalition and instead pursued bilateral engagement with Beijing.
“Instead of promoting and solidifying this international alliance, which had been in the works in preparation for the issuance of the award, the Philippine government under President Duterte abandoned all efforts to work jointly with other states in favor of dealing bilaterally with China,” Reichler said.
According to Reichler, the shift did not persuade China to comply with the legally binding ruling.
“In my opinion, they have not produced any meaningful compliance by China with the rules of international law, including the ruling of the arbitral tribunal,” he said.
Reichler said it is impossible to determine whether China would have acted differently had the Philippines maintained a multilateral approach, but he said the change in strategy failed to deliver the intended results.
“What we do know is that the abandonment of the multilateral approach did not produce the benefits that the Philippines intended to obtain from the award,” he said.
Reichler said the Philippines also lost valuable time in the years following the ruling.
“Valuable time was lost, as much as close to a decade,” he said.
He added that the Philippines was in its strongest diplomatic position immediately after the tribunal released its decision.
“Its failure to take advantage of the strength that it had at the time and the support that it had in the international community has made policymaking for successor governments much, much more difficult, much more challenging,” Reichler said.
“To rebuild all of the support that the Philippines enjoyed 10 years ago is a Herculean task. And it cannot be an easy one, unfortunately, for the current administration,” he said.
