But the Philippines is willing to share natural resources with Beijing in contested South China Sea areas even if it wins a legal challenge next week, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay told AFP Friday.
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Speaking by telephone, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Kerry the United States should stick to its promises not to take sides in the dispute, China’s foreign ministry said.
As the United Nations tribunal on the South China Sea dispute is set to deliver its verdict next week, China which boycotted its proceedings flexed muscles with military exercises and calls by its official media to be ready for military confrontation with USA, while unleashing a global campaign to discredit the judgement.
Beijing earlier accused Manila of deception by engaging in publicity stunts to gain worldwide sympathy and illegally occupying some features of China’s Nansha Islands or Spratly Group of Islands.
Defence ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said China would not bow to pressure from USA patrols.
China has been angered by U.S. patrols in the South China Sea in recent months and on Tuesday launched what the Defense Ministry termed “routine” military drills there.
China’s declaration of a “no sail” zone in the South China Sea is technically a violation of maritime law, but not a new move from Beijing, maritime experts and USA officials told USNI News on Thursday.
Beijing claims almost all of the strategically vital South China Sea which is also claimed in part by Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.
“The arbitration tribunal which clearly has been expanding and over-stretching its jurisdiction beyond the limit has no jurisdiction at all [over the South China Sea disputes]…”
China hopes the USA “speaks and acts cautiously, and takes no actions that harm China’s sovereignty and security interests”, Mr Wang said, according to the statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Wang urged Washington not to take “sides on issues related to sovereign disputes, be prudent with its actions and words, and not to take any actions that infringe upon the sovereignty and security interests of China”.
The Chinese navy has held fresh exercises in the South China Sea, which has been at the center of a long-running territorial dispute between Beijing and its neighbors.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration’s tribunal deciding the Philippines’ legal case against China recently announced it’ll conclude its decision on July 12.
The sources also said the statement – drafted by Laos, a close ally of China – “took note” of concerns voiced by “some ministers” over China’s increased assertiveness in the South China Sea, although it did not mention any country by name.
Denmark said it would be chance to determine “whether the Asia-Pacific’s future will be defined by adherence to global laws and norms that have enabled it to prosper, or whether the region’s future will be determined by raw calculations of power”.
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He recalled the talks between China and the former Philippines government.
