Also attending the ASEM summit, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc that the PCA tribunal ruling must be observed, Japan’s Kyodo news agency said on Friday.
Advertisement
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said late Thursday he would send former president Fidel Ramos to China to start talks on the ruling of The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration.
The Philippines will concede nothing to China as it seeks to implement an worldwide tribunal ruling against Beijing’s claims to most of the South China Sea, its top lawyer said on Friday.
New Zealand’s stance on the South China Sea won’t affect relations with China, the Chinese ambassador here says.
TAIPEI-Taiwan will not cooperate with any party in regard to the territorial issue in the South China Sea, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC, 陸委會) said.
The South China Sea is a lucrative area as it contains ample oil, gas and fishery resources, while also facilitating some United States dollars $5 trillion worth of trade each year (thus being one of the world’s key seaborne trade routes).
He stressed that the ruling issued by the PCA is highly significant for countries in the region, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.
Speaking at the regional ASEM summit in Mongolia on Friday, Philippine Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay said Manila “strongly affirms its respect for the milestone decision” while reiterating his call for “restraint and sobriety”.
“Under no circumstance will the arbitration award exert any impact on China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea”, Li added. The Tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the “nine-dash line”.
It later warned of a “decisive response” to provocations in the South China Sea.
“Still, it’s not so easy to agree with our Chinese partners when it comes to these issues, but our talks were hard, tough but also promising”, he said. China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the summit and the South China Sea.
“War is not an option”.
But immediately after the court announced the ruling, China, as widely expected, angrily rejected the verdict, saying it is “null and void” and without “binding force”.
“If you understand how the other side lives, you’re more tolerant”, he said.
China is also involved in disputes over islands in the East China Sea with countries including Japan and South Korea.
Advertisement
Beijing has taken strong offence at comments from foreign minister Julie Bishop over an global court ruling on the South China Sea. Experts said little progress had been made on the plan, which would likely stoke further tensions.
