Manila also contests China’s effective control of the Scarborough Shoal, a scattering of rocks off the coast of Luzon island, seeking a ruling that would show it sits within the Philippines’ EEZ.
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Earlier in the day, Vietnam accused Chinese vessels of sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat near the Paracels on Saturday.
The fishermen were rescued by another fishing trawler around seven hours later.
This is perhaps the only decision of such a court in the recent history that the whole global community already knows as to what the decision is going to be.
The US says it wants the crucial sea lane to be treated as worldwide waters.
More countries have extended their support to China ahead of the South China Sea arbitration process at The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that will announce its decision today.
“This award represents a devastating legal blow to China’s jurisdictional claims in the South China Sea”, Ian Storey, of Singapore’s ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, told Reuters. China “solemnly declares that the award is null and void and has no binding force”.
China doesn’t accept nor acknowledge the ruling, Xinhua said.
As an independent worldwide media organization, The Daily Mail already rejects the upcoming decision of the sham arbitration court even before the announcement of the decision and terms in advance it as a farcical decision by dubious arbitrators. “Japan hopes that, by complying with that decision of the countries concerned, the conflict over the South China Sea will be peacefully settled”, Kishida said.
Japan, a key US ally, said Tuesday it would keep a “close eye” on the situation after the verdict is released, with Defense Minister Gen Nataktani urging all parties look for a “peaceful solution based on the principle of the rule of law”.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, including reefs and islands also claimed by others.
The tribunal said it “lacked the jurisdiction to consider the implications of a stand-off” between the Chinese and Philippines military, specifically at Second Thomas Shoal, and said any resolution of the dispute was “excluded from compulsory settlement”.
The Philippines brought a case against China to global courts.
2011: The Philippines files a diplomatic protest after a chartered ship searching for oil and gas and in Reed Bank near the Spratly Islands complained of being harassed by two Chinese patrol boats, forcing it to change course.
China has every reason to not participate or accept the arbitration, he said, adding that the country will staunchly safeguard its sovereignty over the South China Sea and never concede on issues concerning its core interests.
Three demonstrators holding up banners shouted “China out of Philippine waters!” while rival protesters yelled in Chinese. China ignores the protest and calls its sovereignty there “indisputable”.
Philippe Sands, a lawyer for the Philippines in the case, said it was a “clear and unanimous judgement that upholds the rule of law and the rights claimed by the Philippines”. “The most likely measure China may adopt will be economic sanctions against the Philippines”.
Manila lodged its suit against Beijing in 2013, charging that China was in violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which both countries are signatories.
In China, social media users reacted with outrage at the ruling. The post followed online rumors that reservists in central Chinese provinces were called up for an unspecified mission from July 10-22.
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The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in favor of most of the Philippines’ claims against China, while determining that historical claims to 90 percent of the South China Sea – labeled “indisputable” by Beijing – had no legal justification.
