The Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague issued a verdict Tuesday in the case Philippines vs. China, siding with the Philippines on all counts and rejecting Chinese claims that nearly the entire sea “historically” belongs to Beijing.
Advertisement
On the award issued Tuesday by an arbitral tribunal in The Hague, Li said China has been very clear on its stance of not recognizing or accepting the award.
On Wednesday, China’s Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said that Beijing would be within its rights to set up an air defence zone in the sea.
He said China would consider an air defense zone that requires foreign aircraft to notify China before flying in designated areas, depending on perceived threats to China’s claims.
The United States has launched a round of quiet diplomacy to persuade countries around the region not to move aggressively to capitalize on the ruling, several US administration officials said on Wednesday.
America then responded by sending two B52 bombers through the ADIZ, without identifying themselves to China.
Grappling with the worldwide tribunal’s verdict quashing its claims over the South China Sea, China on Wednesday turned down U.S. advise to follow India’s example of settling its maritime row with Bangladesh by implementing the judgement saying that there is “no comparison” between the two cases.
China’s expansive claims over South China Sea have been contested by several countries including the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan.
The Washington Post looks at the significance of the South China Sea ruling and its significance for the world.
While this doesn’t resolve broader maritime claims disputes in the South China Sea, it is a step forward to establishing a precedent for future dispute resolution.
China claims much of the South China Sea, through which more than US$5 trillion of trade moves annually.
He said the tribunal had been “unlawful” and the ruling would “not have any effect on China’s existing policy”. The arbitration tribunal in The Hague backed the Philippines which had approached the court in 2013. China is also desperate to ensure the other countries involved in the dispute do not openly support the tribunal’s ruling.
China maintains that peace and stability in the South China Sea should be jointly upheld by China and Asean member states, said the whitepaper.
While the Republic of China (Taiwan) was not party to the case, it still had an indirect stake in the verdict because its claims in the South China Sea are similar to those of China, and Taiwan-controlled Taiping Island (also known as Itu Aba) was brought up in testimony during the court hearings.
Duterte, who took office on Jun 30, has said he wants better relations with China and to attract Chinese investment for major infrastructure projects.
Advertisement
It also declared that China had acted unlawfully by violating the Philippines’ sovereign rights within its exclusive economic zone – waters extending 200 nautical miles from the Filipino coast.
