The statement from Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin came after the International Court for Arbitration ruled in favor of the Philippines in the dispute over islands in the South China Sea, CNN reported Wednesday.
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China’s claims overlap with the sovereign territory of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan and overlaps with exclusive waters under Indonesian control. China said it neither accepted nor recognised the award of an arbitral tribunal established at the request of the Philippines.
This tough approach can send a message to other countries that suing China at The Hague’s “illegal tribunal” will only lead to a tougher response from Beijing, Song said, adding that tensions in the disputed waters will rise, and China should prepare for the worst.
“By doing so, the Philippines has violated its standing agreement with China to settle the relevant disputes through bilateral negotiation, has violated China’s right to choose means of dispute settlement of its own will”, it said.
Introducing the paper, Mr Liu told reporters that China would establish an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the South China Sea “if our security is being threatened”.
A Hague arbitration tribunal’s decision rejecting China’s claims of “historic right” on South China Sea (SCS) was a “breathtaking and sweeping decision” and the parties concerned should abide by the ruling, an American expert on China said today. It brokered a Pacific free trade pact, which excluded China, and secured five new military bases in the Philippines. Chinas territorial sovereignty and maritime interests in the South China Sea will not be affected by the ruling under any circumstances, Chang said here.
An global tribunal’s ruling that China has caused severe harm to coral reefs and endangered species in the South China Sea will not stop further damage to an already plundered ecosystem, scientists and academics said. The president has signalled the he wants to avoid a major diplomatic falling-out with China over the issue.
Do 2,000 years of so-called “historical rights” over large swathes of the South China Sea-China has claimed that in a white paper-supersede current geo-political realities? China has long wanted to negotiate directly, and analysts said dialogue rather than conflict was the most likely scenario.
Chinese state-run media on Wednesday denounced the ruling as biased and invalid and urged Beijing to “safeguard” China’s territorial sovereignty.
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“I am afraid that the Chinese say they will not honor the tribunal’s decision”, said Ed Gomez, a senior adviser at the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute.
