It said Beijing had no historic rights to resources in South China Sea waters and that such rights were “extinguished” as being incompatible with exclusive economic zones provided for in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNClos), to which both countries are signatories.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping also rejected any proposition based on the arbitration award.
China “does not accept and does not recognize” the ruling by a UN-backed tribunal on its dispute with the Philippines over the South China Sea, the official Xinhua news agency said Tuesday.
The ruling by the five-member panel at The Hague handed a massive victory to the Philippines, which had filed the case in 2013 challenging the so-called nine-dash line that China uses to claim virtually the entire South China Sea.
Jardeleza and former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay were among the delegates who defended the country’s case against China’s massive claim over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
“China had violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights in the exclusive economic zone by interfering with Philippine fishing and petroleum exploration, by constructing artificial islands and failing to prevent Chinese fishermen from fishing in the zone”, the PCA added.
“The award is invalid and has no binding force”, China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
1994: The 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, under which the Philippines has taken China to arbitration, goes into effect after 60 countries ratify it. The agreement defines territorial waters, continental shelves and exclusive economic zones.
But China might choose to take a hard line with the Philippines, perhaps taking punitive measures such as sanctions, to send a message to other claimants, said Chinese military expert Yue Gang, a retired colonel.
Therefore let me repeat this: “The rule-based global order is in our common interest and both China and the European Union have to protect it, as this is in our people’s best interest”.
China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea should under no circumstances be affected by such rulings, it said.
For decades China, which boycotted the tribunal questioning its legality, has been asserting that its emperors have discovered the islands hundreds years ago and have been exercising control over the area throughout the history.
It also criticized China for building a large artificial island on Mischief Reef, saying it caused “permanent irreparable harm” to the coral reef ecosystem and permanently destroyed evidence of the natural conditions of the feature.
– China issues a position paper in December arguing that the panel does not have jurisdiction over the case, because it concerns issues of sovereignty and boundary definition, which are not covered by the United Nations convention, and that the Philippines and China had agreed to settle their dispute only through negotiation. One held up a poster that said: “Philippine sovereignty, non-negotiable”. It remains to be seen, however, how far Duterte can stray from Manila’s previously critical stance, given his country’s growing nationalist sentiment against China’s actions.
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Gomez reported from Manila, Philippines.
