China warned its rivals on Wednesday against turning the South China Sea into a “cradle of war” and threatened an air defence zone there, after its claims to the strategically vital waters were declared invalid.
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The Philippines has said China should respect an worldwide tribunal’s rejection of its claims in the South China Sea.
The core of the relevant disputes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea lies in the territorial issues caused by the Philippines’ invasion and illegal occupation of some islands and reefs of China’s Nansha Qundao (the Nansha Islands), it said.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen is indignant at the United Nations arbitration tribunal’s decision to deny China – and Taiwan – their maritime claims in the South China Sea.
Minutes after the court issued the much-anticipated decision on Tuesday, China, through its state-run media outlet Xinhua, junked the court’s decision, saying it was null, void, and has no binding force.
In 2013, the then government of the Republic of the Philippines unilaterally initiated the South China Sea arbitration. China has been on a charm offensive and Duterte is navigating a tightrope in which he wants to revive relations with Beijing while being seen as defending the major victory the country has won through arbitration.
Chang’s deputy, Lin Cheng-yi (林正義), said the government “will not cooperate with China on the sovereignty issue in the South China Sea”. China believes cooperation with other South China Sea neighbors, whether in fishing or in exploiting oil and gas resources in the waters, could be achieved by negotiations, he said.
Lu said: “China is a responsible member of the global community”.
Taiwan responded by sending a warship to the area. He also said the country hopes to return to bilateral talks with Manila, who brought the case to court.
“China has a commitment that they will not take any provocative action against the Philippines or undermine our claims as will be defined under the decision of the arbitral tribunal”, Yasay said.
Aquino, however, said The Hague ruling dealt with only the Philippines and China, and clarified “each state’s rights and obligations; but as our lead counsel said, it also has very strong implications as far as other coastal states are concerned with regard to Unclos”.
The Philippines, which launched the legal challenge, had initially refrained from asking China to abide by the ruling.
China’s Foreign Ministry and Taiwan Affairs Office late Tuesday both made the call for Taiwan “to join hands with China in safeguarding the sovereignty of the South China Sea islands and the rights in the surrounding waters”, saying that all these “have been the traditional assets of the Chinese people”.
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China had no possible entitlement to areas within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, it added. Several countries have reclaimed islands in the sea to stake their territorial claims.
