They also said that planned visits by members of each navy to China and the United States were still going to take place as planned. China has not participated in the proceedings and does not recognize the court’s authority in the case.
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The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, according to the foreign news agency, had rejected Beijing’s claim that the disputes were about territorial sovereignty and said additional hearings would be held to decide the merits of the Philippines’ argument.
European and Asian foreign affairs ministers gather in Luxembourg next week for ASEM, a regular event that brings together all 28 EU countries and 21 Asian nations, including China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Regional security analysts say China is ambiguous about precisely what it claims as territorial waters around the islands and reefs in the South China Sea.
Numerous parties involved in the dispute are key US allies who are looking to the U.S.to protect their claims.
An global tribunal at The Hague will take on a case between China and the Philippines over disputed territory in South China Sea, the first time China has had to face legal scrutiny over its assertiveness in the resource-rich waterway. Yang gave no details of China’s claims.
Ashton Carter, the USA defense secretary, said meanwhile that the Pentagon will do whatever it needs to maintain freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
China claims sovereignty over almost the whole of the South China Sea, which transit a few of the busiest sea lanes in the world and is believed to sit atop a vast amount of oil wealth. China needs to control this area to avert any potential crisis intervention by the United States, which since World War II has been the predominant military force in the Asia-Pacific. The ruling Communist Party also needs to be seen as defending national sovereignty. In fact, the opposite has happened.
Given USA reticence to afford China the influence that Beijing feels that it deserves, Chinese officials have started to set up alternative frameworks.
29, reportedly at the request of the Chinese Navy, was a direct result of the U.S. decision to send the destroyer Lassen within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island built by China on a reef in the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands.
The Pentagon finally acknowledged the problem is a serious one, dispatching the USS Lassen, a guided missile destroyer, to sail through the contested waters. Freedom of navigation operations are not a challenge to the sovereignty of land features.
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In a statement, the ministry reiterated Taiwan’s stance on the South China Sea, saying that from the perspective of history, geography and international law, the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha Islands, 中沙群島) and Pratas Islands in the region, as well as their surrounding waters, “are an inherent part of ROC territory and waters”.
