However, China maintains its position and expressed its firm opposition to the ruling that state-run media Xinhua News deemed “ill-founded” and called the Permanent Court a “law abusing tribunal”.
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The award of The Hague-based arbitral tribunal over the South China Sea case has shown itself to be a strongly biased body, said Dorian Ducka, an energy strategist and former deputy minister of Energy and Industry of Albania.
He said the tribunal made a “very bad decision”, for procedural reasons, to keep the case before it, and that the award is a “huge mistake”, and should be “criticized severely”. It declared large areas of the sea to be neutral worldwide waters or the exclusive economic zones of other countries. There is much economic commerce performed in the South China Sea and the waters are claimed by several countries East Asia, including Vietnam and Malaysia.
Beijing has rejected the PCA tribunal’s ruling, with President Xi Jinping saying China’s “territorial sovereignty and marine rights” in the seas will not be affected.
Calida, however, praised the Philippine victory as a “historic win” in a forum on the ruling and said the Duterte administration would work to have the widely praised decision upheld when it holds proposed talks with China.
He added that such futile attempts will never work as the arbitration tribunal runs counter to the spirit of global rule of law, puts regional peace and stability in jeopardy, and undermines the interests of the worldwide community, reports Xinhua.
The tribunal has no enforcement arm but Calida said its ruling could be used to foster adherence to the rule of law.
But he said Manila may engage foreign entities as contractors to extract or develop these resources.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang welcomed talks with Ramos, but repeated Beijing’s stance that the tribunal ruling can not be the basis of any discussions. “So, what is the other side?”
The Philippines, which launched the legal challenge, had initially refrained from asking China to abide by the ruling – this followed President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to achieve a “soft landing” with the country’s much more powerful Asian neighbour.
The EU supports the swift conclusion of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea between ASEAN and China and stated its readiness to facilitate activities that help to build confidence between the parties concerned.
China shall and will not be intimidated by any decision or ruling of any court that does not have jurisdiction over its sovereign rights, and especially in this matter, Ducka said.
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In 2014, the United States and Philippines signed an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement allowing U.S. forces access to and use of designated areas and facilities owned and controlled by the Armed Forces of the Philippines at the invitation of the Philippine Government.
