China yesterday urged the Philippines to ditch its attempt to solve South China Sea territorial disputes with an international tribunal and instead negotiate with Beijing directly, following the arbitration panel’s latest request for input from China.
The Philippines has asked the tribunal in The Hague to declare invalid China’s claims to virtually all of the South China Sea, saying Beijing’s actions have trampled on other nations’ rights. China contends the tribunal does not have jurisdiction and has refused to participate.
The tribunal, which operates under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, held a week-long hearing that ended on Monday to address China’s contention. It said that Beijing has until Aug. 17 to comment on the hearing, and that it would make a ruling on the issue this year.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) yesterday reiterated Beijing’s opposition to the arbitration, adding that China “will never accept the unilateral attempts to turn to a third party to solve the disputes.”
“China urges the Philippines to come back to the right track of resolving disputes through negotiation and consultation,” she said in a statement.
The Philippines praised the tribunal’s effort to prod China again to join the case, saying the five-man arbitration body has been fair and transparent in its handling of Manila’s complaints against Beijing.
Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam have overlapping claims to all or parts of the resource-rich South China Sea.
Meanwhile, Google has quietly removed the Chinese name for a South China Sea shoal bitterly disputed by Beijing and Manila from its maps service, following an outcry from Filipinos.
The Google Maps Web site yesterday referred to the rich fishing ground by its international name, Scarborough Shoal, which is known as Huangyan Island ( 黃岩島) in China and Taiwan, which also lay claim to it.
The service previously labeled the shoal as part of the Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha Islands, 中沙群島), prompting an online campaign demanding that the Internet giant stop identifying the islet as part of Chinese territory.
Scarborough Shoal lies 220km off the main Philippine island of Luzon and 650km from Hainan Island, the nearest major Chinese land mass.
China has controlled the shoal since 2012, following a brief standoff with the Philippines. Since then, the Philippines has accused the China Coast Guard of harassing Filipino fishermen at the shoal, including robbing them of their catch at gunpoint earlier this year.
Campaigns Web site Change.org began a petition last week to get Google Maps to drop the Chinese name of the shoal. The petition drew close to 2,000 supporters.
“China’s sweeping claim of [the] South China Sea under their nine-dash line purportedly historical boundary is illegal and is creating tension among nations,” the petition read.
“Google Maps showing this is part of [the] Zhongsha island chain gives credence to what is plainly a territory grab that peace-loving nations should stand against,” it said.
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