ISTANBUL, June 24 (Xinhua) -- China is not obliged to accept the arbitration over its disputes with the Philippines in the South China Sea and the presence of outside forces there is "very risky," the chief of Turkey's Patriotic Party said on Friday.
"It seems that the arbitration from an international tribunal will be used for military purposes," observed Chairman Dogu Perincek. "It will be used to apply some kind of pressure on China."
In 2013, the Philippines unilaterally filed compulsory arbitration against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague with respect to the two sides' disputes in the South China Sea.
China maintains that the tribunal handling the arbitration proceedings has no jurisdiction over the case, which is in essence about territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation.
Perincek described the arbitration by the tribunal as "an obvious intervention into the regional countries' sovereignty," saying China as an independent and sovereign country "has no obligation to obey the decision of the international tribunal."
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NOTE: The “Patriotic Party (Turkey)” Link in the above was added by PacificSentinel for clarity & context.