“The Philippines has concocted many excuses to cover up this fact, and to pursue its territorial pretensions, ‘ said the document, titled “China Adheres to the Position of Settling Through Negotiation the Relevant Disputes Between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea.’ The Philippines” relevant claim was groundless from the perspectives of either history or global law, said the white paper issued by the State Council Information Office”.
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The ruling Tuesday from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, was based on the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Seas, which both China and the Philippines have ratified. In January 2013, then government of the Republic of the Philippines unilaterally initiated the South China Sea arbitration.
“In the aftermath of the court decision, China likely will test the U.S.’ readiness to uphold the rules, creating military provocations that could escalate into war”, Kori Schake, a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution in California, wrote in a Thursday op-ed in the Los Angeles Times. The ruling is generally in favour of the Philippines, said Tran Viet Thai, Deputy Director of the Institute for Foreign Policy and Strategic Studies under the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, in an interview with Vietnam News Agency.
“Countries (should) begin with saying: ‘Let’s figure out what is the species, how they migrate … let’s try to restrain ourselves from exploitation and preserve the stocks.’ The sad reality is that for the South China Sea, nobody is even talking about it”, said Prof Zha.
There are several avenues for litigation that countries could pursue rather than risk any action at sea that would worsen military tensions, legal and security experts said.
China’s ADIZ over the East China Sea is not recognized by the USA and others.
China has in recent years undertaken giant land reclamation works in the Spratlys archipelago, one of the biggest island groups in the sea which partly falls within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
It cited members of the Philippine panel sent to The Hague in The Netherlands for presenting authoritatively Manila’s case before the tribunal. Beijing says it does not recognise the decision. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims.
Signaling willingness to resolve the dispute amicably, it said that China is also ready to make every effort with the states directly concerned to enter into provisional arrangements of a practical nature including joint development in relevant maritime areas, in order to achieve win-win results and jointly maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea. Its envoy to Washington said the verdict would “intensify conflict and even confrontation”, though he also said Beijing remained committed to negotiations in disputes over the vital trade route.
Vietnam, another claimant in the sea, added to the pressure on Beijing. It refuted any sovereignty claims based on the nine-dash line of China.
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“We believe that Okinotori meets the criteria under UNCLOS to be classed as an island and therefore to have an EEZ”, Suga said.
