Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.
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Meanwhile, China in 2013 had also declared an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea.
However, Beijing also sought to reach out to the new Philippine government, saying the country would benefit from cooperation with China. It brokered a Pacific free trade pact, which excluded China, and secured five new military bases in the Philippines. The DOC has helped maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea over the past years, he said.
China claims almost all of the sea – which is of huge military importance and through which about $5 trillion worth of shipping trade passes annually – even waters approaching the coasts of the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations.
It said China had violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights and caused “severe harm to the coral reef environment” by building artificial islands.
The vice-minister said the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), signed by China and other claimants, would remain intact even after the tribunal report.
The move came despite the worldwide court ruling also undermining Taiwan’s claims to the area.
Liu claimed Yanai’s Japanese background was to blame, though Japan has no territorial claims in the South China Sea.
The Philippines’ relevant claim is groundless from the perspectives of either history or worldwide law, said the white paper issued by the State Council Information Office.
“ASEAN officials had prepared a draft text but there was no agreement to release a joint statement”, said a Southeast Asian diplomat, adding that China was believed to have leaned on its ASEAN allies Laos and Cambodia to prevent a statement in the highly charged affair. He is navigating a tightrope in which he wants to revive relations with Beijing while being seen as defending the victory that the country has won through arbitration.
Earlier Thursday, the Philippines offered a hardened stance with a statement detailing Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay’s priorities when he attends a two-day Asia-Europe summit, known as ASEM, in Mongolia along with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang starting on Friday.
“I am, of course, quite elated, particularly since all the points we had raised were affirmed”, Aquino said.
FORMER President Benigno Aquino III is confident the Philippines is “closer to having a permanent solution” over its maritime rights in the South China Sea following a United Nations tribunal’s decision that China’s territorial claims to the area has no legal basis.
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“It is not like imposing one party’s will on the other” unlike the Philippines which “unilaterally” filed the petition in Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), he said.
