Earlier this week, an attribution court in the Netherlands ruled that it can hear a case brought by the Philippines against China over territory in the South China Sea. Filipino authorities filed the case against China in The Hague-based court in 2013. It argues that the case is about sovereignty and that the court can not rule on it.
Advertisement
“Today’s ruling is an important step forward in upholding worldwide law against China’s attempts to assert vast and, in my view, questionable claims in the South China Sea”, he said. China says virtually all of the South China Sea belongs to it, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam claim either parts or all of it.
“The real reason why China has refused to participate is because it knows that its expansive claims in the South China Sea are incompatible with UNCLOS and that it would lose”, Storey said.
The United States, which has had little success to date in its five-year effort to put diplomatic pressure on China over its uncompromising pursuit of claims to more than 80 percent of the South China Sea, is hoping that makes a difference. A USA ally, the Philippines, contends that they do not.
They came after the USS Lassen guided missile destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of at least one of the land formations claimed by China in the disputed Spratly Islands chain.
The chief of USA naval operations spoke with his Chinese counterpart via video on Thursday, two days after a U.S. destroyer sailed close to artificial islands built by Beijing in the South China Sea. It does not target nor affect any country, and will not have any impact on the freedom of navigation and over-flight in the South China Sea to which all countries are entitled under worldwide law. “Perhaps, I’ll remind the leaders during my last participation in the Asean Summit that we’ve tackled a lot of issues concerning the Declaration of Conduct of Parties since 2002 as well as the reminders we gave at Phnom Penh [Cambodia] in 2012 that remain pending”, the President said.
He reiterated China’s position of “non-acceptance and non-participation” in the proceedings.
On seven other submissions, including that China had violated the Philippines’ sovereign right to exploit its own territorial waters, the court said it would reserve judgment about jurisdiction until it had decided the merits of the case.
Defense chiefs from several Southeast Asian countries have warned of the threats of increased undersea “clutter” as well as U.S. maneuvers to challenge China in the disputed waters.
However, China is now said to be under mounting pressure over its maritime claims.
Meanwhile, the ROC has consistently adhered to the principles of peaceful settlement of global disputes and freedom of navigation and overflight as stipulated in the Charter of the United Nations and other relevant worldwide laws and regulations, the ministry said.
“The US are exercising their freedom of navigation”, a senior European Union official said at a briefing, chiming with the USA line.
Advertisement
Such a principle does not provide a pretext or privilege for any nation to harm others’ sovereignty and security, he said.
