1990 Letter Not Proof of Philippine Concession Over Scarborough Shoal โ€” Rear Admiral Tarriela

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๐‘๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐€๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ซ๐š๐ฅ ๐‰๐š๐ฒ ๐“๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ฅ๐š called “๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐๐ข๐ง๐ ” ๐š๐ง๐ ๐š ๐๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐›๐ž๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก the latest attempt by the Chinese Embassy to use a ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—๐Ÿ—๐ŸŽ ๐๐จ๐œ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐š๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐’๐œ๐š๐ซ๐›๐จ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐’๐ก๐จ๐š๐ฅ.

This is after the ๐‚๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐„๐ฆ๐›๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฒ cited a 1990 letter written by Ambassador Bienvenido A. Tan, Jr., stating that ๐’๐œ๐š๐ซ๐›๐จ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐‘๐ž๐ž๐Ÿ (Huangyan Dao) โ€œ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ข๐ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ฌ,” according to Philippine mapping authorities at the time.

According to Rear Admiral Tarriela, the said letter is not an official waiver of sovereignty, emphasizing that it is ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐š ๐œ๐š๐ฌ๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง๐๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐š ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž ๐š ๐›๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง, where relying on it overlooks the 2016 Arbitral Tribunal ruling.

Rear Admiral Tarriela also stressed that an ๐š๐ฆ๐›๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐š๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐š๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฐ๐š๐ข๐ฏ๐ž, ๐š๐›๐š๐ง๐๐จ๐ง, ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ž๐œ๐ข๐๐ž ๐จ๐ง ๐š ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ’๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ข๐ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ.