Liu said Beijing had the right to establish an air defense identification zone over the disputed waters, if it so chose.
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Shen Dingli, professor and associate dean at the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said China’s behavior in the South China Sea, where it’s turned sandbars into islands equipped with military airstrips, was unlikely to change.
After considering a case brought by the Philippines, the court ruled against China on virtually every substantive point.
Immediately after the ruling of South China Sea was declared by the Permanent Court of Arbitration on July 12, which was said that China had no rights to resources in South China Sea, China declared that it is ignoring the decision.
Liu attacked the integrity of the tribunal and said that the five judges “were making money from Philippines”. It also gives heart to small countries in Asia that have helplessly chafed at China’s expansionism, backed by its military and economic power.
Del Rosario stepped down as Secretary of Foreign Affairs earlier this year to pursue a private life.
Chinese experts on the South China Sea dispute have labeled Indonesia’s statement on the issue as “surprising”, saying the statement on the Foreign Ministry’s website was a departure from the impartial stance the country once held.
He blamed the rise in tensions in Asia on the United States’ “pivot” to Asia announced by President Barack Obama in 2012.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest encouraged all parties to “acknowledge the final and binding nature of this tribunal”. “It will certainly intensify conflict and even confrontation”. “And China will not accept or recognize the award of the arbitration, whatever it might be”.
Global Times labelled the ruling “ridiculous”, adding that the verdict has “brazenly violated” China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights.
Doing so could send a message to China to proceed cautiously, though it may not be enough to stop China from doing what it sees as in its own interest.
“We have set up one over the East China Sea (close to Japan) and whether we will set up another in South China Sea will depend on the degree of threat we are facing”.
As for the arbitration award, the vice foreign minister reaffirmed that China will not execute the award. “There would be strong reputational costs”.
“On whether China will set up an air defence zone over the South China Sea, what we have to make clear first is that China has the right to …”
It also criticized China for building a large artificial island on Mischief Reef, saying it caused “permanent irreparable harm” to the coral reef ecosystem and permanently destroyed evidence of the natural conditions of the feature.
The ruling has elicited a rare common position between China and Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a breakaway province and blocks Taiwan’s membership of most worldwide organizations. But the difficulty of enforcing the ruling means the situation in the seas aren’t likely to change in the foreseeable future nor will other governments emulate the Philippines’s action against the Asian giant, according to analysts.
Teresa Cheng, head of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, said the United States went back and negotiated with Nicaragua, finding another way of settling the dispute through aid payments.
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Past pro-China rhetoric of Philippine’s President Rodrigo Duterte notwithstanding, the significance of the USA’s sharp recovery from its 1992 loss of Subic Bay can hardly be lost upon Beijing.
