China on Thursday warned of “decisive response” if any provocative action is taken in the South China Sea to enforce an worldwide tribunal’s verdict against Beijing’s expansive claims in the strategic region. “This would depend on our overall assessment”, he asserted.
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The whitepaper, released yesterday by China’s State Council Information Office, accused the Philippines of “having increasingly intensified its infringement of China’s maritime and interests”.
Beijing: A defiant China on Wednesday successfully tested two new airfields in the disputed islands in the South China Sea, a day after an global tribunal struck down Beijing claims over the area.
Replying to reporters’ queries about Vietnam’s response to the arbitration tribunal’s issuance of its final ruling on the lawsuit, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Le Hai Binh said: “Vietnam welcomes the issuance of the final ruling on July 12 and will issue a statement on the ruling’s content”.
China said on Monday that the maritime dispute should not be included on the Asem agenda, with assistant foreign minister Kong Xuanyou insisting the meeting was “not an appropriate venue” to discuss the issue.
“Whether we need to set up one in the South China Sea depends on the level of threat we receive”, Liu said.
China had no possible entitlement to areas within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, it added.
But US officials warned that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte remains “somewhat of an unknown quantity”, according to Reuters.
“We hope to work with countries surrounding the South China Sea, including ASEAN members, abide by the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and maintain peace and stability as well as the freedom of navigation and overflight”, Liu said.
Although rivals, self-ruled Taiwan and China share the same territorial claims, pitting them against other claimants, chiefly the Philippines and Vietnam.
China says it has historical rights over the sea, which it defines by a “nine-dash line”.
The territorial claims in the South China Sea are complex and overlapping.
China’s envoy to the US, Mr. Cui Tiankai has said that Court of Arbitration (PCA) decision on South China Sea will intensify conflict and stated that China is committed for the negotiation on the dispute with all the respective parties – reports Times of India.
Chinese state-run broadsheet the China Daily called the ruling an “inherently biased and unjust “piece of paper”.
“The South China Sea ruling, especially the categorisation of Taiping island, has severely jeopardised our country’s rights in the South China Sea islands and their relevant waters”, Tsai told soldiers on the deck of ship in footage broadcast by news channels.
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It is the strongest statement yet from the Philippines on the ruling.
