However, China has consistently boycotted the proceedings, insisting that the panel has no authority to rule in the case.
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday offered China conciliatory talks on a long-awaited global tribunal ruling over Beijing’s maritime claims, a week before the verdict.
For example, a recognized island delivers an Exclusive Economic Zone of 200 nautical miles, giving the responsible country complete control over all enclosed resources, including fish, oil and gas.
While they are sailing warships around the disputed region, China has also reached out with an olive branch for the Philippines, reasoning that if Manila simply ignores the arbitration ruling next week, then negotiations can begin, China Daily reports.
China claims nearly the whole of the SCS.
China sees an opening in Duterte and wants to settle the issue with the Philippines directly, without outside arbitration. Fearing that the arbitration won’t go its way, China is now boycotting the decision and questioning the court’s jurisdiction.
Additionally, China has been ramping up a propaganda campaign to assert their historical rights in the region with state news agency Xinhua publishing nearly daily articles outlining their views. “It was presented by the Philippines but has been directed by the United States”.
The United Nation’s Convention on the Law of the Sea, originally agreed to in 1982, was created to allow countries to clearly lay out who controlled what off their coastline.
In a speech on Friday marking the 95th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s founding, president Xi Jinping said China was “not afraid of trouble”, and would not compromise on its sovereignty.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims with China in the area.
“This is the way for the Philippines to improve relations with China”.
Now that the UN International Court of Arbitration in The Hague is about to issue its ruling in the territorial dispute case filed by the Philippines against China, the latter has further cranked up its position in the South China Sea row.
USA officials have expressed concern that the ruling by the court in the Hague could prompt Beijing to declare an air defence identification zone, or ADIZ, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013, or step up the pace of reclamation and construction on its holdings in the disputed region. “We are not prepared to go to war, war is a dirty word”.
The sea is the main maritime link between the Pacific and Indian oceans, where over $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes annually.
But national security expert, Rommel Banlaoi, said past negotiations with the superpower had led to a deadend.
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Will the ruling resolve anything? The official news agency Xinhua slammed the validity of the arbitration and called the court “a law-abusing tribunal”.
