The announcement comes after an worldwide tribunal in The Hague ruled July 12 that Beijing’s claims to areas of the resource-rich sea have no legal basis in an arbitration launched by the Philippines, whose “sovereign rights” it said China had violated.
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The statement provided details of the closing but did not specify the type of exercises or the reason behind the drills.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he is ready for talks with China to try to solve their maritime dispute, after his government won the global arbitration case.
China has declared sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, despite contested claims by Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, and other island countries in the region, according to Russia Today. The goal of the engagement was to improve mutual understanding and encourage professional interaction between the two navies at a time when tensions are high in the South China Sea.
State broadcaster CCTV later reported that Wu reiterated China’s determination to defend all of its territorial claims in the South China Sea and would not permit its interests to be infringed on, a standard position for Chinese officials.
On July 12, the PCA ruled that China had no historic title over the West Philippine Sea and that it violated the rights of the Philippines when it put up structures in contested islands and drove out Filipino fishermen.
The commander said Beijing would not be intimated over the issue, adding: “Any attempt to force China to give in through flexing military muscles will only have the opposite effect”.
China kicks off its second military drill in two weeks in the South China Sea today even as Chinese military leaders warn the United States that its freedom of navigation patrols could backfire and end in “disaster”.
The rally was organized by No-U, a Hanoi group that opposes China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea.
So far, US officials haven’t commented about China’s partial closure of the South China Sea this week.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday that his country should stop interfering and hyping up the South China Sea issue, as the dispute took center stage at a key regional summit in Mongolia.
“Under no circumstance will the arbitration award exert any impact on China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea”, Li added.
Australia would be unwise to conduct a very provocative freedom of navigation exercise in the South China Sea, an adviser to China’s government says. He says a Chinese presence on Scarborough Shoal would threaten not only the Philippines, but also US forces using Philippine bases under a new, enhanced defense cooperation agreement.
Batongbacal thinks the increased US presence and the ruling of the court may force China to hit the pause button.
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Reiterating China’s stand that freedom of navigation in the South China Sea has never been affected, he said there won’t be a problem in future “as long as nobody plays tricks”.
