Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines: Eliminating the Toxic Legacy of the 'South China Sea Arbitration Award' Admits No Delay
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the so-called 'South China Sea Arbitration Award' unilaterally initiated by the Philippines. Over the past ten years, the illegality and absurdity of the 'South China Sea Arbitration Award,' as well as the harm it has inflicted on China-Philippines relations and the regional situation, have been laid bare for all to see. Comprehensively eliminating its toxic legacy (遗毒) admits no delay.
The 'South China Sea Arbitration Case' was an out-and-out illegal arbitration. 'Respect for state sovereignty and territorial integrity,' 'state consent,' and 'pacta sunt servanda' are universally recognized basic principles of international law, and neither international adjudication nor international arbitration can depart from these principles. The essential nature of the matters submitted to arbitration by the Philippines was a dispute over territorial sovereignty between China and the Philippines concerning certain islands and reefs in the South China Sea—a matter outside the scope of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (hereinafter 'the Convention'). As early as 2006, the Chinese government made an exclusionary declaration pursuant to Article 298 of the Convention, excluding such matters from compulsory dispute-settlement procedures. Resolution of the relevant disputes through negotiation was an agreement reached by China and the Philippines through bilateral documents and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea—a 'double firewall' blocking the Philippines from initiating arbitration. Knowing full well that the legal prerequisites for initiating 'arbitration' were not met, the Philippines nonetheless repackaged its claims, substituted one concept for another, circumvented the 'firewall,' forcibly provoked 'arbitration,' and distorted and abused international law. In this sense, the so-called 'South China Sea Arbitration Case' was illegal from the day it was filed.
The 'South China Sea Arbitration Case' was a political farce dressed in legal garb. The so-called 'Arbitral Tribunal' was absolutely not an 'international court of law' but a makeshift troupe (草台班子) that worked for money, merely using the hall of the Permanent Court of Arbitration for its hearings. In fact, the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea all publicly declared they had nothing whatsoever to do with the 'Arbitral Tribunal.' Of the five arbitrators on the 'Arbitral Tribunal,' apart from the arbitrator designated by the Philippines itself, the other four were appointed by the then-President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Japanese judge Shunji Yanai. Four of the five arbitrators came from Western countries, and the sole African arbitrator had long resided in Europe—the composition of such an 'Arbitral Tribunal' and its related operations manifestly lacked the representativeness required by international law and plainly violated the requirements of procedural justice.
The 'South China Sea Arbitration Award' disregarded basic legal principles and facts and constitutes a manifestly perverse ruling (枉法裁判). For example, it classified Itu Aba Island—the largest island in the Spratly Islands, with an area of 500,000 square meters—as a rock, and on that basis determined that no island or reef in the Spratly Islands could generate an exclusive economic zone or continental shelf. This is entirely inconsistent with the facts of the South China Sea and with the provisions of the Convention. If applied as a standard, the maritime order of the world would have to be rewritten. Such examples are too numerous to count, fully demonstrating that the fundamental purpose of this farce was to negate China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea. China's refusal to accept or participate in the 'arbitration' and its non-recognition of the 'award' constitute both a defense of China's sovereignty and rights and interests and a defense of the authority and dignity of international law.
The 'South China Sea Arbitration Award' has continuously damaged China-Philippines relations and regional stability. Over the past ten years, the Philippine side has stubbornly clung to the erroneous position of the 'award,' attempting to unilaterally implement its contents, enacting the so-called 'Maritime Zones Act' and 'Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act' to pursue legal encroachment (法理侵权), and continuously creating incidents and provocative infringements at China's Huangyan Island, Ren'ai Reef, Xianbin Reef, Tiexian Reef, and other islands, reefs, and sea areas. Anti-China forces in the Philippines and extra-regional countries periodically invoke the 'award' to inflame Philippine nationalist sentiment and stoke antagonism between China and the Philippines. The facts have proven that the 'award' has not only failed to resolve the maritime disputes between China and the Philippines but has instead created enormous difficulties for the development of bilateral relations and for both sides' management of maritime issues. It has become a 'poisoned thorn' (毒刺) driven deep between China and the Philippines and a pretext for extra-regional forces to interfere in the regional situation.
China's position on handling maritime issues is consistent and unambiguous: what is ours, we will not yield a single inch of; what is not ours, we will not take a single inch of. China firmly upholds its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, does not accept or recognize the so-called 'South China Sea Arbitration Case' or its 'award,' and does not accept any claims or actions based on the 'award.' China's capacity to defend its sovereignty, security, and development interests and to shape a situation of peace and stability in the South China Sea continues to grow. The higher the Philippine side jumps in its provocative infringements, the more resolutely China will defend its rights and strengthen management and control. At the same time, China insists on resolving maritime disputes through bilateral negotiations and consultations, and is committed to working together with ASEAN countries to implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and to strive for the early conclusion of a 'Code of Conduct in the South China Sea,' jointly safeguarding peace and stability in the South China Sea.
China's position and claims are laid out here in plain terms. They have not changed over the past ten years, and they will not change in the future. For the Philippines, the most pressing task is to recognize reality, abandon illusions, completely remove the 'award'—this stumbling block that obstructs China-Philippines relations and undermines regional stability—and achieve the earliest possible return of bilateral relations to the right track.
(The author is the Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines)