Liu said that China hoped the Philippine government would see the ruling as “a piece of scrap paper” and called for bilateral negotiations to resume over the issue.
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Ms Bishop said Canberra also reserved the right to sail ships and fly planes close to some of the reefs and islands claimed by China.
The Philippines, under a United Nations treaty governing the seas, sought arbitration from an worldwide tribunal on several issues related to its long-running territorial disputes with China.
“I say this because the clarity rendered now establishes better conditions that enable countries to engage each other, bearing in mind their duties and rights within a context that espouses equality and amity”, he added.
What were the tribunal’s findings?
Both he and Cui spoke at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, and their comments reflected how the South China Sea is increasingly the spoiler in relations between the USA and China.
The ruling from the arbitration tribunal was brought by the Philippines and invalidated China’s “nine-dash line” claim to a large swath of the South China Sea. It said China has caused “severe harm to the coral reef environment” by building artificial islands.
China refused to accept or participate in the arbitration, which was initiated unilaterally by the Philippines. “China has established an ADIZ over the East China Sea”, Liu told reporters on Wednesday.
The white paper said with the development of the worldwide law of the sea, a maritime delimitation dispute also arose between China and the Philippines regarding certain maritime areas of the South China Sea.
It stressed that the government will continue to defend Taiwan’s territory and national interests in the South China Sea, and will continue to build Taiping Island into a base for environmental protection and humanitarian assistance.
The Arbitration court in the Hague has no power of enforcement, but a victory for the Philippines could spur Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei to file similar cases.
It calls on Secretary of State John Kerry to use “all diplomatic channels” to communicate support for freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea.
The ruling was expected to further ramp up tensions in the region, where China’s increased military assertiveness has spread concern among its neighbours, and in Washington.
It added that “China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea shall under no circumstances be affected by those awards”.
China, which boycotted the entire proceedings, reiterated that it did not accept the panel’s jurisdiction. Therefore, the award has no legally binding force on the ROC.
In the policy paper, China asserts its sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their surrounding waters and opposes other countries’ “illegal claims and occupation”.
“It will certainly intensify conflict and even confrontation”, China’s ambassador to the U.S., Cui Tiankai, said hours after the Hague-based tribunal issued its decision. It’s a foundation to maritime trade and commerce globally, and so to ignore it would be a serious worldwide transgression.
“The waters of the South China Sea are about to get a whole lot more turbulent over the next few months”, Storey told AFP.
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Gomez reported from Manila, Philippines.
