The Chinese media is urging the government to prepare for armed conflict against the United States in the South China Sea or “plan for the worst”, talking tough ahead of an global tribunal ruling widely anticipated to go against China’s territorial claims.
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US officials say they fear China may respond to the ruling by declaring an air defence identification zone in the South China Sea, as it did in the East China Sea in 2013, or by stepping up its building and fortification of artificial islands.
The Global Times, a tabloid linked to the Chinese Communist Party, said yesterday that China should be able to “let the United States pay a cost it can not stand if it intervenes in the South China Sea dispute by force”.
The author asserts that China should be ready to “let the USA pay a cost it can not stand if it intervenes in the South China Sea dispute by force”.
First, the government maintains that all parties concerned in territorial disputes in the South China Sea should base their claims on worldwide law, he said.
Speaking by telephone, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Kerry the United States should stick to its promises not to take sides in the dispute, China’s foreign ministry said.
China claims sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea, which is also claimed in part by Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei also have overlapping claims to the waters, which are believed to sit atop vast mineral reserves.
A professor of worldwide law at the University of Oxford has published a paper on resolving disputes in the South China Sea.
Hong said the government will continue to abide by worldwide law and basic norms governing global relations, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, and will continue to work with states directly concerned to resolve the relevant disputes in the South China Sea through negotiation.
China has said that the arbitral tribunal has no jurisdiction over sovereignty issues which should be resolved by the two claimants themselves.
China has kicked off a week of military drills in the South China Sea ahead of a hotly anticipated and potentially destabilising court ruling on its territorial claims in the region.
Hong urged non-regional countries not to meddle in the dispute.
The back-channel talks, authorized by President Benigno Aquino III, was meant to defuse tension because of a standoff between Philippine and Chinese ships near the shoal, which is a traditional fishing ground for Filipino fishers and which Manila claims as part of the Est Philippine Sea. We will always decide for the greater interest of our country.
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Referring to the upcoming decision, Duterte said on Tuesday, “If it is favorable to us, let’s talk”.
