BERLIN, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Philippines' assertion concerning the South China Sea (SCS) abused the international law and the United States' interference is only a show of hegemony that does no good to anybody, Chinese overseas scholars said Sunday at a seminar in Berlin.
The seminar, themed "The South China Sea Issue: China's Stance, International Voice", gathered several Chinese overseas scholars in Germany, The Netherlands and other European countries.
It was also attended by more than 50 representatives of Chinese students studying in Berlin, Chinese enterprises and overseas Chinese living in Germany.
Noting the SCS case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines in 2013, Qiu Rungen, visiting scholar at Berlin's Humboldt University and an expert on international economic law, said that such an arbitration, though deliberately wrapped up, actually violates the legislative purpose of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and its juridical logic.
In fact, China and the Philippines have agreed in bilaterally-signed documents to settle SCS disputes through dialogues and negotiations. Additionally, China made a declaration in 2006 that excluded a compulsory arbitration under Article 298 of the UNCLS.
Given these facts, Qiu said that China's assertion of neither accepting nor participating in the SCS arbitration is not only fully in line with the UNCLOS but also meets the basic legal principle of international laws.
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