China today lodged a diplomatic protest with Japan accusing it of “deceiving” worldwide community and stiring up trouble with its neighbours, a day after a Japanese defence white paper attacked Beijing for muscle-flexing in the disputed East and South China seas.
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“Judicial power is an important component of national sovereignty”, the Supreme Court’s ruling was quoted by Reuters as saying.
China has stepped up its claims by sending its coast guard ships and fighter aircraft on regular patrols often resulting in close encounters with the Japanese defence fleet and aircraft.
Japan’s annual defense review, published on Tuesday, warned of “unintended consequences” if China disregarded worldwide rules, after an arbitration court in The Hague invalidated Beijing’s sweeping claims to most of the sea.
“The Chinese court’s ruling is China’s way of saying that it has the right to continue to do what it wants in the South China Sea, despite the verdict from the global court in favor of the Philippines”, Robert Kaplan, senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and author of “Asia’s Cauldron”, told Business Insider.
“Australia has unexpectedly made itself a pioneer of hurting China’s interest with a fiercer attitude than countries directly involved in the South China Sea dispute”, the paper said.
The judicial explanation, based on Chinese law, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and judicial practices, further clarifies China’s maritime jurisdiction.
Tensions in the South China Sea are not new and the waters have been the scene of several clashes in the past 40 years. Smaller countries aligned with the US rely on the sea for food and economic sustenance, including the Philippines, which brought suit against China, and Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
He said that China now faced an increasingly complicated situation where it was defending its resource-development and maritime rights in a disputed region.
The Telegraph quoted China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, who claimed that the Chinese military “drove away” the USA aircraft, while describing the flights as a security threat to the Chinese-claimed islands.
Russian Federation has supported China’s position in its dispute with the Philippines and other South China Sea nations, the AP said, and wants nations outside the region, like the United States, to remain neutral.
The Vietnamese, who were trying to force the Chinese out of the area, lost dozens of troops and China took control of the islands.
Jose emphasized that the Philippine government is pushing for a rules-based approach in the South China Sea.
“The South China Sea has drawn huge attention, but some information online is not accurate”, said Zhang Haiwen, an official of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) which launched the website.
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The Philippines did not oppose the consensus to adopt the joint communique as it satisfied our concern for recognition of our legal approach and to uphold the spirit of Asean solidarity.
