The announcement comes after an global tribunal in The Hague ruled July 12 that Beijing’s claims to areas of the resource-rich sea have no legal basis in an arbitration launched by the Philippines, whose “sovereign rights” it said China had violated.
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The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China has “no historic title” to the South China Sea.
The tribunal ruled that China violated worldwide maritime law by building up artificial islands in the South China Sea that destroyed coral reefs, and by disrupting fishing and oil exploration.
But China will be conducting more military patrols of its own, air force spokesman Shen Jinke said yesterday, after giving more details on recent patrols by its H-6K long- range strategic bomber over the Scarborough Shoal in the Paracels.
HANOI, July 18 Vietnam dismissed as “untruthful” reports carried in Chinese state media that said its prime minister respected China’s stance on an arbitration ruling over the South China Sea, the latest sign of regional discord over the landmark verdict.
After an global tribunal ruled against the China’s claims in the waters.
On Monday, officials said that Beijing will close off access to part of the South China Sea for military drills.
Admiral Richardson’s first visit to China as CNO couldn’t have come at a better time.
Beijing has increasingly criticized Washington for encouraging the Philippines to pursue the arbitration case, saying that it, along with the strong presence of the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea, was heightening tensions in the volatile region.
“We will never stop our construction on the Nansha Islands [Spratly] halfway… the Nansha Islands are China’s inherent territory, and our necessary construction on the islands is reasonable, justified and lawful”, PLAN’s Wu Shengli told Richardson, as quoted by the Xinhua News Agency on Monday.
It is feared that China will use the new islands to extend its military reach.
Chinese dredging vessels in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy May 21, 2015.
About 20 Vietnamese demonstrators were detained on Sunday while trying to hold a protest against China’s rejection of an global court decision that denied its vast claims in the South China Sea. Ahead of the ASEM summit, a report from Reuters reveals China had said the South China Sea dispute can not be discussed during the summit in Mongolia.
The Council on Foreign Relations noted in 2015 that 5.3 trillion dollars of world goods moved through the South China Sea, with 1.2 trillion of that bound for US shores. “Both of us recognize it’s an extremely important relationship and the that the navy to navy part of that relationship bears a great responsibility to make sure that we get to our mutual benefit”.
An estimated $5 trillion in global trade passes each year through the South China Sea, which is home to rich fishing grounds and a potentially vast wealth of oil, gas and other natural resources.
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Speaking behind closed doors at a forum in Beijing over the weekend, Admiral Sun Jianguo, a Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff Department of the powerful Central Military Commission, said the freedom of navigation issue was bogus and one that certain countries repeatedly hyped up.
