Difficulties began with the Philippines. Beginning in 1978, four years before the passage of the Law of the Sea, the Marcos government claimed a 200-nautical-mile economic zone that included all the waters south of Taiwan.
在地理位置上看，中菲最近的距離僅卅五浬，一九七八年在國際海洋法通過前，菲律賓率先片面宣佈實施二百浬經濟海域，將台灣省南部墾丁外海整個包括在內。