“It is the Philippines that has created and stirred up the trouble”, said Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin, in introducing the paper.
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The tribunal ruled it had jurisdiction in the case under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, which both China and the Philippines – but not the United States – are party to.
Just before the panel announced its ruling, a busload of Chinese tourists arrived outside the court building in The Hague and joined a handful of other protesters in shouting down three people calling for China to leave Philippine waters.
“If our security is threatened of course we have the right”, he said. “We hope that other countries will not take this opportunity to threaten China and work with China to protect the peace and stability of the South China Sea, and not let it become the origin of a war”.
USA lawmakers are urging such action.
The case was originally brought by the previous Philippines government in 2013. New Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has called for bilateral negotiations to resolve the controversy.
He said, however, that China hoped the new government would not use the arbitration results – which China has declared null and void – as a basis for negotiations.
On Tuesday, President Xi Jinping said China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime interests would not be affected by the verdict.
While the decision is seen as a major legal declaration regarding one of the world’s most contested regions, the true impact is uncertain given the tribunal has no power of enforcement.
“In the end it will undermine the authority and effectiveness of worldwide law”, Cui said, hours after the Hague-based tribunal issued its decision.
The official said the U.S. strongly believed that once the dust settles and the rhetoric subsides, this decision opens the door to some very practical and potentially productive discussions among the various claimants in the South China Sea, in part because the ruling significantly narrows the geographic scope of the areas in question.
Cui also warned of the risk of conflict, but said it was China that was standing up for global law, by rejecting legal arbitration it had not consented to.
The 3.5-million square kilometre South China Sea offers access to the entire Southeast Asian region and upwards of €3.5 trillion worth of trade passes through it every year.
She said Australia would continue to exercise its right to Freedom of Navigation in the region, but would not confirm whether Australia would conduct patrols within 12 nautical miles of China’s artificial islands.
“Our interest lies in a desire for a peaceful resolution to disputes and competing claims in that region”, he said.
The five-member panel from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, unanimously concluded China had violated its obligations to refrain from aggravating the dispute while the settlement process was ongoing.
STREET CELEBRATION Breaking into loud cheers, a crowd of Filipinos and Vietnamese at Manila Bay hoist a giant Philippine flag on Tuesday to show their support for the unanimous decision of a UN-backed tribunal to junk China’s claim to nearly all of the South China Sea, including waters in Manila’s exclusive economic zone known as West Philippine Sea.
Also on Tuesday, Premier Li Keqiang said that by not accepting nor recognizing the award, China is in fact safeguarding the worldwide law.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, has maintained that same line.
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The court has also accused China of having its boats almost collide with Philippines fishing vessels, infringing upon the Philippines’ sovereign rights and damaging coral reefs.
