The Philippines urged Beijing on Thursday to respect an worldwide tribunal’s ruling that rejected Chinese claims to most of the South China Sea, as China vowed a “decisive response” to provocations in the disputed waters.
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While it may feel that it has lost out from this week’s ruling, China has much to gain from a strong community of regional order in the South China Sea.
China should be looking for a way to enter such negotiations without preconditions, rather than continuing to insist that the Philippines first set aside the ruling. We can not yet predict China’s range of responses to the tribunal.
Thu Minh, a local singer with over two million followers, said that the two archipelagos “are of Vietnam ever after”.
Dennis Blair made the recommendation to a Senate panel, a day after an global tribunal invalidated Beijing’s expansive claims in the South China Sea.
China’s Foreign Ministry 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”.
In contrast to leaders in Beijing, the new administration in the Philippines has greeted the ruling with welcome restraint, leaving the door open to talks about resource-sharing in the disputed area. It declares that ‘China’s claims to historic rights… with respect to the maritime areas of the South China Sea encompassed by the relevant part of the “nine-dash line” are contrary to the [The UN] Convention [on the Law of the Sea, UNCLOS]’. Withdrawing from the Law of the Sea treaty would strip China of valuable seabed mining rights, among other benefits.
The ruling by an arbitral tribunal of five members based in The Hague was simple and devastating.
“We are sure that if all sides respect worldwide law, then it will be easier to achieve regional and global peace and stability”, she told reporters.
“The calls for the use of force have only been heard when the USA clamoured to safeguard the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, which mirrors that the U.S. hasn’t made the determination to use the arbitration for a showdown with China in the waters”.
China, which claims nearly all of the South China Sea, has said the summit is “not a suitable place to discuss” the issue.
USA has said that the award was legally binding.
The ruling could also potentially lead the way to a legal challenge to Japan over the status of Okinotori island, an uninhabited atoll that lies about halfway between Guam and Taiwan, 1,700 km (1,050 miles) from Tokyo.
The best that we can do, in the view of some who would not mind having China control the Philippines and make us its slavish running dog and milking cow at the same time, is just grin and bear our rape and humiliation.
“We believe that Okinotori meets the criteria under UNCLOS to be classed as an island and therefore to have an EEZ”, Suga said. “They don’t mind a confrontation with a Vietnamese fishing boat, but they don’t want a confrontation with the United States”. A sign, left, reads “Strongly protest against USA intervention in South China Sea Affairs”.
China yesterday flew two civilian aircraft to assert its claims to the artificial islands built in the disputed area.
“We should no longer expect in the future that there will be an Asean statement on China”, Baja said.
Duterte did not say if the talks he sought would press China to comply with the tribunal’s ruling.
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“The arbitration and the out-of-bad-faith dramatization and political manipulation that ensued have put the South China Sea issue to a risky situation, with growing tension and confrontation”.
