Manila: The Philippines urged Beijing on Thursday to respect an global tribunal’s ruling that rejected Chinese claims to most of the South China Sea, escalating a row that has raised the prospect of conflict. Liu’s ministry hit out at a “dozen countries” who were advising Beijing to accept the ruling of the United Nations tribunal, a day after it had rejected Beijing’s claim over 90% of the South China Sea.
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By refusing to recognize the court’s ruling, despite being a signatory of the United Nation’s Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), China may be hoping to hold on to its territorial claims in the South China Sea by arm-twisting the ASEAN claimants into not actively pursuing the implementation of the verdict.
The document asserted that China has claims over the South China Sea for 2,000 years and the Philippines, which had filed the petition before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, was occupying Chinese territory.
In another statement, the Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce (MCCC) called on the Philippines to engage China in further negotiation for a peaceful resolution.
The order came hours after the Permanent Court of Arbitration issued its decision regarding China’s – and therefore Taiwan’s – claims.
China, which claims nearly all of the South China Sea, has said the summit is “not a suitable place to discuss” the issue.
Former Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, who initiated the arbitration, said the ruling provided clarity that “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”.
On Tuesday, an worldwide tribunal in The Hague ruled that China has no historic rights to the area within its self-declared nine-dash line and that Taiwan has no right to Itu Aba, also called Taiping, the largest island in the Spratlys.
Dennis Blair, in a recommendation to a Senate panel Wednesday, said the objective is not to pick a fight with China at the disputed Scarborough Shoal, but to set a limit on its military coercion. Liu claimed Yanai’s Japanese background was to blame, though Japan has no territorial claims in the South China Sea. It also asked the tribunal to rule on largescale constructions that China had undertaken in the region. Taiwan responded by sending a warship to the area.
The Philippines has repeatedly taken moves that have complicated the maritime disputes in an attempt to “entrench its illegal occupation of some islands and reefs” of the South China Sea, said a whitepaper issued by China.
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The fact remains that China did not accept jurisdiction of the tribunal from its very beginning and boycotted its proceedings and it is understood that findings of the tribunal were unilateral.
