PCG says China continues to disregard arbitral ruling
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) criticized China for disregarding the country’s commemoration of the eighth anniversary of the 2016 arbitral ruling.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), PCG Spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said: “ Their persistent and continuous aggressive and unlawful actions in the entire South China Sea have emboldened them to believe that their military and economic might make their actions right.”
“Just to inform you, the 2016 arbitral award remains one of the landmark decisions that declared China's nine-dash line claim in the entire South China Sea as invalid, illegal and without any basis,” he added.
This was in response to a post on X Global Times, the Chinese state-run English newspaper, which called the celebration of the anniversary of the arbitral award a “political show”.
In a separate statement, the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines called the arbitral ruling a “political circus dressed up as a legal action”.
“The Philippines breached the common understandings with China on resolving the disputes in the South China Sea through consultation and negotiation, violated the article of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) which states that the disputes should be settled through peaceful means including consultations and negotiations between sovereign?states directly concerned,'' it said.
'' It has abused the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) dispute settlement mechanism, ignored China’s declaration which, according to UNCLOS, excludes maritime delimitation from compulsory dispute settlement procedures, and insisted on initiating the arbitration,” the Chinese Embassy added.
“The arbitral tribunal in the South China Sea Arbitration exercised its jurisdiction ultra vires and made an illegitimate ruling. The award thus rendered is illegal, null, and void. China does not accept or recognize it, and will never accept any claim or action thereon. This position has won the support and understanding of more than 100 countries. Many international authoritative law experts and scholars have criticized and called into question the integrity of the arbitral award,” it added.
The embassy said that by continuing to abide by the ruling, the Philippines is worsening its relationship with China and ganging up against it by garnering the support of the United States and allies on the South China Sea issue.
“As the mastermind behind the South China Sea arbitration, the US annually ropes in allies to play up the issue of the illegal award against China in a vain attempt to exert pressure on, and force China into accepting the award. We are firmly against this. We urge the US and its allies to refrain from making statements and taking actions that disrupt regional peace and stability, and stop being a troublemaker in the South China Sea,” it added. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
