Beijing “does not accept and does not recognise” the ruling by an UN-backed tribunal on its dispute with the Philippines over the South China Sea, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
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“China will never accept any claim or action based on those awards”, Xi said.
“The tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights within the sea areas falling within the “nine-dash line”, the Permanent Court of Arbitration said in a statement.
China’s claims were first enshrined in a map drawn in the 1940s with a nine-dash line stretching south from China and encircling nearly all of the sea, although it says Chinese fishermen have been using it for centuries.
The court noted that the Chinese claims were contrary to the UN Convention on Law of the Sea.
The Philippines has also asked the tribunal to rule on whether several disputed areas are outcrops, reefs or islands, a move aimed at clarifying the extent of territorial waters they are entitled to or if they can project exclusive economic zones.
“The tribunal further held that Chinese law enforcement vessels had unlawfully created a serious risk of collision when they physically obstructed Philippine vessels”.
The panel found China had caused “severe harm” to coral around the site of its artificial islands.
“A news anchor on state broadcaster CCTV read a brief comment from China’s state news agency, Xinhua, in which the ruling by the tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, would not be accepted”.
He said they can say to China: “Look, here are the results of an global organization that has found that your claims have zero historical basis”.
Apart from the Philippines and China, which are the main parties to the dispute, the entire world has been waiting for the decision since the court acquired jurisdiction over the case in October 2015. China “solemnly declares that the award is null and void and has no binding force”.
Chinese state media said before the ruling that Beijing would not take a “single step back” after the decision and Beijing vociferously rubbished the legitimacy of the tribunal. In advance of the ruling, the China Daily newspaper, which is published by the government, topped its front page on Tuesday with a picture of Woody Island in the South China Sea emblazoned with the words: “Arbitration invalid”.
“The Philippines strongly affirms its respect for this milestone decision as an important contribution to ongoing efforts in addressing disputes in the South China Sea”, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said in Manila.
The new Philippine leader, who took office late last month and has spoken of having friendlier relations with Beijing, could influence the aftermath of the ruling. The U.S. regularly dispatches carrier groups to the region with no military response from Beijing.
China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the strategically vital waters of the South China Sea, with rival claims from its Southeast Asian neighbors.
The Philippines formally lodged its arbitration case under the United Nations’ 1982 Convention of the Law of the Sea, known as UNCLOS, in January 2013.
Manila argued in closed court hearings that none of the islands, shoals and reefs in the Spratlys are large enough to grant an additional 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) for fishing and extracting seabed resources.
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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”.
