Beijing is under pressure to respect a UN-backed tribunal’s finding last month that there is no legal basis for its ambitions over the South China Sea where the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and others also have claims.
Advertisement
“Judicial power is an important component of national sovereignty”, the Supreme Court said. These include internal seas, territorial seas, contiguous zones, EEZs and continental shelves.
The statement preceded a declaration from the Chinese Supreme People’s Court that “trespassers” (non-Chinese nationals) navigating the waters the Hague ruling confirmed did not belong to China would be subject to prosecution for illegally entering China.
“The explanation offers legal guarantees for marine fishing law enforcement”, it added.
Two days ago while addressing a reception to celebrate 89th founding anniversary of the 2.3 million-strong People’s Liberation Army (PLA), China said it will “staunchly” protect the country’s maritime rights and interests and is “fully confident and capable of addressing various security threats and provocations”.
The Chinese face competing claims from regional neighbours such as The Philippines and Vietnam over the area’s vast oil and fishing reserves.
Japan’s new defense minister Tomomi Inada talks to reporters at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s official residence in Tokyo, Japan, August 3, 2016.
The military, police and people should prepare to mobilize to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, he was quoted as saying during a tour of the coastal province of Zhejiang.
Moreover, it seems that it has motivated the country to become more aggressive when it comes to dealing with territorial disputes.
Lack of a unified Asean stand creates a more unsafe situation “because that means that external powers to the dispute such as the United States and potentially its allies will become more directly involved”, Heazle told reporters in the sidelines of the forum.
“This could mean a three-party alliance, rather than two-sided alliances [of the U.S. and Japan, and the USA and South Korea], and this would pose a damaging threat to the stability of Northeast Asia”, Song said.
Japan’s statement was issued on the last day in office for outgoing Japanese defense minister Gen Nakatani; China’s statement arrived on the first day for newly-instated minister Tomomi Inada, a hawkish lawyer who was previously policy chief for Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party. It also sees “grave and imminent threats” to regional and worldwide security from North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programmes.
Advertisement
It takes 50 pages to outline Japan’s deepening alliance with the United States, as Tokyo takes a step back from its war-renouncing constitution by easing curbs on overseas operations for its Self Defense Forces.
