China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea have been formed over the course of over two thousand years.
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Bishop had on 12 July called on China and the Philippines to abide by a Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling on the South China Sea territorial claims that was handed down on the same day.
The Philippines has asked the court to rule on several issues, including China’s controversial “nine-dash line” – a boundary that carves out the majority of the South China Sea for itself. It has reacted angrily to calls by Western countries and Japan for the decision to be adhered to.
“Sovereignty is a bottom line for China”. The agency also said Abe and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had agreed the ruling must be observed.
Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Yasuhisa Kawamura said Abe “reiterated the fundamental positions regarding the South China Sea” in his meeting with Li.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually.
Democrat Ben Cardin of Maryland, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said confrontation is less likely if the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and other countries work with the United States rather than on their own.
“The news is old”, an expert with the China Nuclear Energy Association, said.
The statement did not elaborate.
China and its land-locked neighbor Laos have increasingly close political and economic links. ASEAN has not issued a statement about the ruling and its members have not said why. Without full concensus ASEAN does not speak out on matters, a clear sign that there exists disunity among the group regarding the South China Sea matter.
China may build mobile nuclear power plants in the South China Sea, state media reported on Friday, days after an worldwide tribunal dismissed Beijing’s vast claims in the strategically vital waters.
Solicitor General Jose Calida disclosed the Philippine position on Friday.
(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez). Justice Antonio Carpio, senior associate justice of the Philippine Supreme Court, expounds his views on the ruling by the Hague-based United Nations global arbitration tribunal favoring the Philippines in its case against China on.
“We value the award given by the (tribunal), and the Philippines will not concede any of the awards given to us”, Calida said, using the legal term for the ruling.
“The award opens a horizon of possibilities for all stakeholders”.
India and China have so far held 19 rounds of talks to resolve the boundary dispute.
President Rodrigo Duterte has been more reconciliatory to China that his predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, who filed the case against Beijing in 2013, straining relations.
“War is not an option”, he said. So, what is the other side? In the hours after the ruling, its normally brash and outspoken Duterte privately told his ministers to be magnanimous and not to taunt Beijing.
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The United States, a key Philippines’ ally, is urging Asian nations not to move aggressively to capitalise on the court ruling, according to US administration officials.
