U.S. military actions in S. China Sea can only have effect of militarizing region: Chinese ambassador
WASHINGTON, May 19 (Xinhua) -- If the U.S. government does not curb its acts of sending more warships and airplanes to South China Sea, it will only have the effect of militarizing the region, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai has said.
Cui issued the message in a recent speech to a reception banquet for the Leadership Forum held at the Annenberg Estate in California by the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution.
The veteran diplomat expressed his concern about the situation in the South China Sea, especially the statements made by U.S. officials and actions taken by the American military that threaten to escalate tensions there.
He was commenting on the repeated operations in recent months by U.S. warships on excuse of exercising "freedom of navigation" in the adjacent waters of some Chinese islands and reefs.
"There have been assertions that the U.S. is against actions to militarize the South China Sea. But it is the United States that is sending more and more military vessels and airplanes there. Such deployments, if not curbed, can only have the effect of militarizing the region," Cui said.
He pointed out that the so-called freedom of navigation operations by the U.S. military were originally designed as a counter-measure against the freedom of navigation as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, because the U.S. believed that the Convention provisions would restrict freedom of movement of its navy around the world.
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Arbitration tribunal has no jurisdiction over South China Sea issue - expert
BANGKOK, May 20 (Xinhua) -- A scholar told a seminar here on Thursday that China refused to join the South China Sea arbitration because the tribunal has no jurisdiction over the case and the coming ruling cannot solve the current disputes in the South China Sea.
Hong Nong, director of the Research Center for Oceans Law and Policy under the Chinese National Institute for South China Sea Studies(NISCSS), summarized those reasons in three points.
The first reason, as she said, is that China questions whether the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) has the jurisdiction over the case, which was initiated by the Philippines over maritime disputes under United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 2013.
The Philippines required the arbitration tribunal to decide the status of certain maritime features in the South China Sea, the actual purpose of which is to call for decision over sovereignty and maritime delimitation, said Hong, adding that the case therefore is excluded from the tribunal's jurisdiction.
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China praises Mozambique, Burundi, Slovenia for support on South China Sea
BEIJING, May 19 (Xinhua) -- China appreciates the support of the governments of Mozambique, Burundi and Slovenia on its stance on the South China Sea issue, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said Thursday.
The three governments back China's efforts to resolve territorial and maritime disputes with directly involved countries through consultation and negotiation, Hong said at a regular news briefing.
"Burundi calls for correct understanding of China's exclusion of compulsory procedures to resolve the disputes, while Slovenia fully supports China's position on international arbitration of the issue," the spokesperson said.
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