“China does not accept or recognize it”.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping said the ruling was not legally binding and insisted China’s claim to sovereignty over the South China Sea can be traced to “ancient times”.
It is the strongest statement yet from the Philippines on the ruling.
A 2012 standoff at Scarborough Shoal between Chinese and the Philippine vessels prompted Manila to launch the arbitration case by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
Territorial claims from Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, Taiwan, and China make the South China Sea one of the most disputed places on the planet.
The U-shaped line – also known as the “11-dash line” – was featured in the “Location Map of the South China Sea Islands” drawn up by the Republic of China (ROC) government in 1947.
The Philippines and the United States are eager to limit China’s ambitions in the South China Sea while avoiding military conflict.
China on Wednesday also raised the prospect of confrontation in the sea, and threatened to introduce an air defence zone over the sea that would give its military authority over foreign aircraft. “Our government should defend the livelihood of these people because it’s the only place where they get their income”.
The tribunal scolded the impeding of fishing and exploration in the sea by China, which it deemed against the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), signed by China in 1982. Court battles over the claims between China and the Philippines go back to 2013.
Duterte has adopted a more conciliatory approach than his predecessor Benigno Aquino, saying the Philippines would be willing to share natural resources with China in contested areas if the tribunal ruled in its favour.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, including reefs and islands also claimed by others.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said China had formally protested against Australia’s “wrong remarks”, and China hoped Australia would do nothing to harm regional peace and stability.
The Chinese foreign ministry didn’t respond to a request to comment.
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The Philippine delegation, composed of the country’s legal experts like former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, defended the Philippines’ position before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) a year ago. “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 (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos, ” Mr Binh told reporters.
