Echoing the Foreign Ministry, President Xi Jinping is quoted in state outlet Xinhua as asserting that “the South China Sea Islands have been China’s territory since ancient times” and that China’s activities in the region “will not be affected” by the case, which is binding under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
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In one of the world’s most disputed waters, the puny Philippine navy doesn’t stand a chance against China’s flotilla of combat ships. Six governments have overlapping claims to the South China Sea, and Beijing’s use of its coast guard, building of artificial islands and other activities to cement its claims have raised global concerns. If there are no big moves from Manila, Washington and Tokyo, the case will “literally become nothing but a piece of paper”, it said.
China expert Chito Sta.
The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration’s award on the Philippines-initiated South China Sea Arbitration, including apparently incorrect statements regarding Taiping Island in the Nansha (Spratly) Islands, has severely jeopardized the legal status and relevant maritime rights of the South China Sea islands, over which the Republic of China (Taiwan) exercises sovereignty, and is unacceptable to the ROC government, Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong said July 12.
The ambassador, Cui Tiankai, also told an global forum in Washington that Beijing remains committed to negotiations with other parties in disputes over the South China Sea waters that have some of the world’s most promising oil and gas fields and fishing areas.
The five judges who ruled in the case “made money from the Philippines”, Liu said, adding “and maybe other people gave them money too”.
During his campaign, Duterte told reporters he was open to joint exploration with China for energy resources in the disputed waters and that he would keep quiet on the issue if China finances railway projects in the Philippines.
Duterte’s foreign secretary, Perfecto Yasay Jr., reacted to the ruling by saying that government lawyers would study the 479-page decision before deciding what to do next.
The verdict also reinforced that “law, and not politics, is the basis of decision-making at sea”, Peter Dutton, director of China Maritime Studies Institute, US Naval War College, Washington, said.
Yasay said both China and the Philippines have committed not to take provocative action.
Philippine House Rep. Harry Roque, an worldwide law expert, said that if China resorts to force in the South China Sea, the Philippines can seek a vote of the U.N. General Assembly – not the Security Council, where China has veto powers – authorizing sanctions against Beijing.
“Despite the opposition of Vietnam and concerns by the worldwide community, those actions conducted by China have seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty and are unlawful and can not change the fact about Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes”, Binh told reporters, referring to the Paracel and Spratly chains of islands and reefs.
Influential Republican Sen. John McCain was among USA lawmakers Tuesday calling for the U.S.to challenge “China’s excessive maritime claims” regularly. The reef, built into an island by China, is about 130 miles (210 kilometers) off the Philippines.
Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong reaffirms ROC sovereignty over islands in the South China Sea in a report to the Legislative Yuan July 13 in Taipei City.
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Beijing claims sovereignty over around 90 percent of the sea, an area marked by a so-called “nine-dash line” on Chinese official maps, while the Philippines and other Asian nations have their own claims.
