China slams US for masterminding ‘illegal’ arbitral award

CHINA, through its embassy in the Philippines, has accused the United States of being the mastermind of the South China Sea arbitration case as it maintained that the 2016 Arbitral Award is “illegal, null and void.”

The embassy’s spokesman stressed this as the Philippines and its allied countries on Wednesday commemorated the seventh anniversary of the Arbitral Award invalidating China’s expansive claim in the South China Sea (SCS).

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands on July 12, 2016 ruled that China’s nine-dash line policy in the SCS which encroached on the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone has “no legal basis.”

The embassy, in a statement said, “China’s position on the so-called South China Sea arbitration and the award is consistent, clear and firm.”

The Arbitral Tribunal “gravely violated Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and general international law,” it added.

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The embassy reiterated that China “does not accept or recognize it, and will never accept any claim or action based on the award.”

“As the mastermind behind the South China Sea arbitration, the US ropes in allies to play up the issue each year on the anniversary of the illegal award to gang up against China and to exert pressure, and force China into accepting the award,” it said.

China’s sovereignty and relevant rights and interests in the SCS “were established in the long course of history, and are solidly grounded in history and the law.”

“This shall under no circumstances be affected by any illegal award. We are firmly against this,” the embassy said.

“We urge these countries outside the region to respect China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, stop using the South China Sea issue to drive wedges among regional countries, and refrain from being a troublemaker to peace and stability in the South China Sea,” it said.

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