BEIJING, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) — Xu Hong, Director-General of the Department of Treaty and Law of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, gave an interview to Xinhua on Sunday as the ministry was authorized to release a position paper of the Chinese government on the matter of jurisdiction in the South China Sea arbitration initiated by the […]
BEIJING – China has again rejected an attempt by the Philippines to challenge its territorial claims over the South China Sea through international arbitration, releasing a lengthy paper a week before a deadline for China to respond to the case. China prefers to settle its disputes with discussions with the countries directly involved. But the […]
BEIJING — (UPDATED) China denounced the Philippines on Sunday for putting it under pressure with an international arbitration case over disputed waters, and refused again to participate a week ahead of a deadline to respond in the case. In a position paper, China outlined its arguments against the jurisdiction of the Permanent Court of Arbitration […]
Last week’s Fifth Xiangshan Forum in Beijing demonstrated just how difficult it will be to resolve disputes in the South China Sea as long as key parties believe history must arbitrate the veracity of claims to sovereignty over contested islands. Scholars, officials and military officers from all around Asia were present, including many from the […]
NAYPYITAW, Burma—President Aquino on Thursday challenged China to take “concrete action” in the South China Sea to match its diplomatic overtures in the Southeast Asian region. Speaking at the dialogue between the 10 Southeast Asian countries and China near the close of the 25th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit here, Aquino said the […]
COMMUTERS BETWEEN MARIN COUNTY and San Francisco in northern California are getting used to a new spectacle during rush hour. Vast, ungainly container ships, bearing China’s flag and name, plough along under the glorious Golden Gate Bridge. They are bringing goods into the Port of Oakland—and taking back America’s trade deficit. Any pleasure yachts zipping […]
NAY PYI TAW, Myanmar, Nov 13 — President Benigno S. Aquino III has sought the support of India and other members of the United Nations in easing tensions in the West Philippine Sea. The President made the appeal in his intervention during the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-India Summit held at the Sapphire […]
BEIJING—The bilateral relations between the Philippines and China continued to improve even as both countries continued to lock horns over their conflicting territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea, President Benigno Aquino III said here Sunday. He made the statement during the APEC CEO Summit when a business leader asked him about the relations between […]
If a country cites international law to justify its position while avoiding having that position tested in court, such use of international law is just rhetoric, and does not deserve support from scholars. In the article “Separating fact from fiction in South China Sea conundrum”,[1] Dr Mark Valencia decries “a veritable fountain of government pronouncements, propaganda, […]
UNITED NATIONS – “Can international law be a law when it can be ignored or broken by states without any consequence?” Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations Libran Cabactulan raised this question as he hosted a discussion at the UN on a topic closely related to the Philippines’ historic arbitration case against China on the […]