The provocative editorial came out following the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is just within reach.
Advertisement
China’s foreign minister spoke with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry by telephone on Wednesday ahead of a key global court ruling on China’s South China Sea claims and warned Washington against moves that infringe on China’s sovereignty, Beijing’s official Xinhua news agency reported.
The editorial added: “Even though China can not keep up with the USA militarily in the short term, it should be able to let the United States pay a cost it can not stand if it intervenes in the South China Sea dispute by force”.
“It awaits China’s obedience”, it said, adding China should speed up the development of its military deterrence to give the U.S. “a bloody nose” if it intervened in the dispute by force.
Taiwan is closely monitoring developments related to an upcoming International Court of Arbitration ruling on a dispute between Manila and Beijing over the South China Sea, and has been preparing for various scenarios, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said on Tuesday.
“The two discussed issues of mutual interest”. Experts here agreed that the two countries should not get into a confrontation regarding the South China Sea issue.
“China will never accept nor recognize whatever ruling the arbitral tribunal may produce”.
He said all countries could trust China, which is committed to maintaining peace and stability in the region.
Wang said that regardless of the tribunal’s ruling, China would “firmly safeguard its own territorial sovereignty and legitimate maritime rights and firmly safeguard the peace and stability”, it said.
The newspaper has previously accused Washington of seeking to turn the South China Sea “into a powder keg” and warned it not to underestimate China’s determination to defend its territorial claims. “We are not prepared to go to war – war is a dirty word”, he said.
Advertisement
Washington should honor its promise not to take sides over the dispute, and stop speculating that China is trying to compete with it for dominance in the region, Asia and the world as a whole, Dai added. “In the meantime, we’re just hopeful for that”, said Duterte. We will always decide for the greater interest of our country.
