China is trying to discredit the international court that will rule on the South China Sea dispute Senior Chinese diplomats have ramped up efforts to discredit the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ahead of a decision next week that is expected to go against China.
While calling for a peaceful resolution, Dai Bingguo, a former state councillor and top diplomat, dismissed the expected ruling on the South China Sea as just “a piece of paper” and said China would not be intimidated even if the United States sent 10 aircraft carriers to the disputed waters.
“The final award of the arbitration, which will come out in the next few days, amounts to nothing more than a piece of paper,” Dai said on Tuesday at a forum held by US and Chinese think tanks in Washington.
The disputes should not be allowed to define Sino-US relations, he said, calling on both nations to manage their differences constructively.
“China is willing to maintain communication with the US on maritime issues and work with the US and all other parties to keep the situation under control,” he said.
China has refused to take part in the international court proceedings, saying the disputes should be settled by direct talks between the nations involved.
In an article published in party journal Qiushi, Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said the tribunal had infringed on the rights of the disputing parties to choose their own path to a resolution. The tribunal also had “serious flaws” in verifying facts and applying legal concepts, Liu said.
The tribunal had “worked with the Philippines to cover up its act of illegally occupying China’s territory in the Nansha Islands”, Liu wrote, using the Chinese name for the Spratly Islands.
“It not only intensifies the confrontations between China and the Philippines, but seriously affects the stability of maritime order,” he said.
The court referred to highly controversial cases in its proceedings, he wrote.
The comments come as Beijing steps up its rhetoric against the ruling, claiming it has the backing of about 60 countries.
US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said earlier that China risked erecting a “Great Wall of self-isolation” over its assertive moves in the disputed waters. But Beijing blames the US for “militarising” the region by expanding patrols with aircraft carriers.
Dai said Washington recognised China’s sovereignty over the Spratly Islands after the second world war, and its present stand of not taking a position on the dispute “amounts to back-pedalling and defiance of the post-war international order”.
“If the US is unable to go back to its position of recognising China’s sovereignty over the Nansha Islands, it should honour its stated position of not taking sides on issues concerning territorial disputes,” Dai said. He repeated China’s call for an immediate halt to the tribunal’s proceedings.
Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, also told the forum the Permanent Court of Arbitration had no jurisdiction to rule over the territorial disputes.
Jia Qingguo, associate dean of Peking University’s School of International Studies, said Dai’s remarks were consistent with China’s stance that international arbitration should be rejected.
Dai was using the occasion to get China’s message across to the United States that Beijing would not be deterred by military action, Jia said.
http://www.businessinsider.com/china-is-dismissing-the-upcoming-south-china-sea-court-ruling-2016-7
