Given the complexity of the maritime disputes in the South China Sea, all the claimants have to be patient and take a long view on how to resolve these issues.
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He reiterated that the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) would not affect China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. If the coastal countries in the South China Sea region do not intend to aggravate tensions, they have to return to the path of seeking resolution through negotiation.
“There is no reason to get the South China Sea issue into this ASEM meeting citing freedom of navigation and security interests as causes of concern”.
An adverse verdict for China would at best “blacken its face”, given that the USA is backing the Philippines but nothing more than that, said Kondapalli.
It is reasonable for the global community to expect China, with its growing stature, to be a responsible member of the community of nations and to play by the rules it has helped establish. A new Philippine leader who appears friendlier to Beijing could also influence the aftermath of the ruling.
China and the USA have been accusing one another of leading to militarization of the resource-rich Sea, a critical asset for global shipping and fishing that sees more than $5 trillion in maritime trade every year. In the Nicaragua case of the 1980s, the then Ronald Regan-led U.S. administration took a “non-participation and non-acceptance” stance when the International Court of Justice accepted the case; it eventually passed a ruling that went against the US. Furthermore, upcoming China-Philippines arbitration is expected to bear prominently upon dynamics in the region. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have conflicting claims to the waters.
A Philippine push for the 10-nation bloc to issue a joint statement calling for China to respect Tuesday’s ruling has stalled with Cambodia and Laos backing the Chinese position.
The Philippines submitted its request of arbitration without engaging in consultations with China, even on the very existence of “disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the convention” and other matters. There were times when China had claimed vague “historical” maritime rights while referring to the line.
Thus, the arbitration is illegal, and null and void.
“The arbitration case has undermined the efforts to implement some cooperation projects between China and ASEAN”.
China has been a strong supporter of the UNCLOS for many years.
On the fourth topic, “the relations between the UNCLOS’s interpretations and worldwide laws”, the experts believed that the arbitration tribunal purposefully confused its explanation on expanding its jurisdiction and distorted the text of UNCLOS. Its handling of the case and exercise of jurisdiction is willful expansion and a abuse of power. Worse still, the impact of the arbitration is obvious.
Furthermore, the Tribunal will also rule on the issue of whether the “islands” reclaimed by China, including Fiery Cross and Mischief Reef, where it has built military bases, are indeed “islands” within the meaning of the Convention.
Protesters waving Vietnamese flags outside the Chinese Consulate in the city of Makati, in Metro Manila, denounce China’s military build-up in the South China Sea on February 25, 2016. But for China, the Paracels as the Spratlys are part of the same territorial entity.
The Chinese people were the first to discover, name and develop these islands.
And an abstract ruling irrelevant to territorial sovereignty and demarcation of the waters in order to avoid the above-mentioned embarrassments will make its ruling impractical for implementation.
Speaking in Ningbo, Zhe- jiang province, at an event to mark China Maritime Day, Xu said all five lighthouses are 50 to 55 meters tall and are equipped with the Automatic Identification System, a tool used around the world for marine communication.
In 1968, a survey conducted by an affiliate of the United Nations indicated rich oil and gas reserves in the South China Sea.
China calls the archipelago Nansha islands and claims it along with almost the entire SCS. “China’s fighting back would only throw the situation into chaos”.
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Minda Calaguian-Cruz is the ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines to Australia.
