Officials lay out position in islands dispute

Nation exerts its rights under UNCLOS to refuse to participate in arbitration case brought by Philippines

China reiterated its rejection of any UN arbitration panel's decision on territorial claims made by the Philippines in the South China Sea, but it will keep the door open for negotiations to solve the disputes.

Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom Liu Xiaoming made the remarks in London on Friday in his speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a leading international think-tank.

He said by refusing to accept and participate in the arbitral tribunal, Chinese is exerting its rights according to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. What the Philippines has done is "clearly unreasonable, unfair and illegal", he said.

China has said it will keep the door open for negotiations to resolve the dispute with the Philippines over its territorial claims in the South China Sea. That the Philippines sought the arbitration is "clearly unreasonable, unfair and illegal," said Liu on Friday.

China is within its rights under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to refuse to accept and participate in the arbitration, he said.

Noting the election of a new Philippine president, however, he added, "We hope the new Philippine government will work with China on a proper settlement of differences and bring the situation in the South China Sea back on track, following the principles established by UNCLOS and international law".

Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently told Al-Jazeera that "there should be no double standards," a reference to Washington criticizing Chinese construction work on South China Sea islands and leveling accusations of militarization, while the US builds up its military presence there.

"We have seen (US) aircraft carriers coming to the South China Sea, strategic bombers flying over the South China Sea and guided-missile destroyers coming close to China's islands and reefs, all to exert military pressure on China," Wang said.

Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said in a speech on Thursday in Washington that the US military's so-called freedom of navigation operations were originally conceived as a countermeasure against freedom of navigation as defined by UNCLOS because the US believed that the convention's provisions would restrict its Navy's freedom of movement.

"What is more disturbing is that such statements and actions would most probably embolden some players to be even more aggressive and provocative," Cui said, referring to some claimants in the dispute, such as the Philippines, Xinhua reported.

Ambassador Liu noted in London that China's sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and the waters around it is built on strong evidence, which the international community has long recognized.

Chinese people discovered the islands in the South China Sea as early as 200 BC, and China was also the first to operate administratively in the region, dating back to the Tang Dynasty (AD 618 to 907). Successive Chinese governments since then have maintained administration over the Nansha Islands and the surrounding waters, Liu said.

He cited evidence that The China Sea Pilot, published by the British Navy in 1868, recounted that only Chinese lived on the Nansha islands.

He rejected that China has refused to abide by international law by not accepting the UN arbitration case initiated by the Philippines in 2013.

A ruling is expected on the case within a few weeks.

Tullio Treves, a Senior International Consultant in the International Arbitration group based in The Hague, says "negotiations remain the best avenue to settle the dispute on the South China Sea between the two states. These are disputes, as China holds, which concern sovereignty and the delimitation and they are not covered by the arbitration".

Wang Mingjie contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at liwensha@chinadaily.com.cn and zhengyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn