Beijing’s top diplomat has slammed China’s sovereignty claims over nearly the entire South China Sea, with the country’s “dashed line” putting it at odds with several neighboring countries, most publicly the Philippines.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a Q&A at a security venue on Saturday that these countries had taken advantage of the turmoil China experienced during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s to occupy the South China Sea and “have created the kind of situation we are seeing today. He said it had caused a conflict. Conference in Munich, Germany.
Tensions between China and the United States’ mutual defense treaty continue despite bilateral talks last month aimed at de-escalating tensions. In recent weeks, the Chinese coast guard has once again harassed Filipino fishermen at Scarborough Shoal, and the Philippines has beefed up its defenses and stepped up patrols in remote areas of the disputed area.
Both countries vowed to maintain their positions on this issue.
Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images
“The islands in the South China Sea are Chinese territory, and at the time China ruled these islands, neighboring countries had not even been established,” Wang said.
The Philippine Senate approved an amendment last week that gives President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration the power to enforce claims anywhere in the West Philippine Sea, a collective term for the waters within the country’s 200-nautical-mile EEZ.
US officials, including President Joe Biden, emphasized last year that the “ironclad” defense agreement with the Philippines extends to the South China Sea.
newsweek has written to the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment.
China has responded with restraint and is “pursuing dialogue and negotiations to address these territorial disputes” — “unlike other major powers that easily resort to the use of force,” Wang said. made veiled references to its main rival, the United States.
Wang pointed to a 2002 agreement signed by China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to support freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
The diplomat said China, like its neighbors, was pursuing a more binding and substantive code of conduct on the busy waterway, citing international law such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Stated.
Mr Wang said the “upgraded” code of conduct had passed three readings.
China has frequently appealed the treaty, but continues to ignore an international court of arbitration’s 2016 rejection of its historic claims to nearly the entire sea area.
The five-member tribunal ruled in 1982 that China’s maritime activities infringed on the Philippines’ 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone and that rocks and low-tide reefs were not entitled to enter Philippine territorial waters. He cited the United Nations Convention. Own.
It is estimated that at least one-fifth of world trade passes through strategic waterways.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom, finding common ground and finding connections.