‘Fantasy’: China Pushes ‘Historical Rights’ Claim on South China Sea at Manila Dialogue | EP716

On October 29, 2011, then-Philippine Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio —and today’s guest — gave an influential speech at Ateneo de Davao University, in which he called out China’s encroachment into his country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Carpio’s speech effectively launched Manila’s campaign to seek international arbitration through Annex VII of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). These efforts culminated in a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in favor of the Manila over Beijing for sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal, Mischief Reef and other disputed features in the West Philippine Sea. Despite ratifying UNCLOS in 1996, however, Beijing has never recognized this verdict, instead making dubious arguments about “historical rights” to justify its military ambitions and gray-zone activities in the region.

To tackle these issues, the Philippines hosted the Manila Dialogue on the South China Sea from November 5 to 7, 2025. In this special episode of Taiwan Talks, we are joined by two distinguished experts from that just-concluded forum, including Justice Carpio and Chatham House scholar Bill Hayton.

*Recorded on November 7, 2025 at 11am Taiwan Standard Time

Host/Senior Producer: Yin Khvat
Producer: Julien Oeuillet

Our guests in Manila:

Antonio Carpio
- Former Philippine Supreme Court Associate Justice

Bill Hayton
- Chatham House Asia-Pacific Programme Associate Fellow

And in Taipei:

Ronan Fu
- Academia Sinica Institute of Political Science Assistant Research Fellow

Chapters:
00:00:00 - Manila Hosts SCS Dialogue
00:00:45 - Beijing’s Dubious Historical Clams
00:11:22 - ‘Historical Rights’ vs ‘International Law’
00:20:10 - Will China Militarize Scarborough?




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