While Taiwan is not party to the case, its claims in the South China Sea are similar to those of China, and Taiping Island was brought up in testimony during the court hearings.
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The government has ruled out the possibility of cross-strait cooperation on the South China Sea issue after the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague handed down its ruling on the disputes in the area that has been considered unfavorable to mainland China.
On Wednesday, Tsai said that the ruling “seriously damaged” Taiwan’s rights.
China lays claim to almost all of the resource-rich waters along the shipping routes in the South China Sea with trading value of approximately US$5 trillion a year.
“Do not turn the South China Sea into a cradle of war”, vice foreign minister Liu Zhenmin told reporters in Beijing, as he described the ruling as waste paper.
In one of the world’s most disputed waters, the puny Philippine navy doesn’t stand a chance against China’s flotilla of combat ships.
The External Affairs Ministry yesterday said that India supports freedom of navigation and over flight, and unimpeded commerce, based on the principles of global law, as reflected notably in the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea). It vaguely defined this area with a map of nine dashes.
Malaysia, which has had tiffs with Chinese coast guards ships in disputed waters, said it “believes that it is important to maintain peace, security and stability through the exercise of self-restraint in the conduct of activities that may further complicate disputes or escalate tension and avoid the threat or use of force in the South China Sea”.
He says the ruling “now establishes better conditions that enable countries to engage each other, bearing in mind their duties and rights within a context that espouses equality and amity”.
The court announced its decision on the conflict that centres on the Scarborough atoll and part of the Spratly Islands – a group of more than 750 reefs, islets, atolls and cays whose total or partial sovereignty is also being claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam – after more than three years of judicial process.
“China will take every necessary action to protect territorial sovereignty and maritime rights from violations and any attempt to break China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights can only be a delusion”, the article said.
Aquino’s successor, Rodrigo Duterte, has taken a softer line against Beijing, saying he’s open to bilateral talks.
Shen Dingli, professor and associate dean at the Institute of International Studies at Shanghai’s Fudan University, said the Philippines muted response to the ruling could indicate it was willing to negotiate with China. “China has established an ADIZ over the East China Sea”.
He says, “If our security is being threatened, of course we have the right to demarcate a zone. This would depend on our overall assessment”.
“Sea lanes of communication passing through the South China Sea are critical for peace, stability, prosperity and development”.
Influential Republican Sen. John McCain was among USA lawmakers Tuesday calling for the U.S.to challenge “China’s excessive maritime claims” regularly.
The worldwide tribunal’s ruling against China in its dispute with Philippines related to the South China Sea was a “rebuke” to Beijing, a USA expert said on Wednesday and noted that it was also an opportunity for better negotiations between the parties concerned.
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Mainland China’s external affairs agency 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”.
