Philippines urges China: Be a 'responsible nation'

MANILA, Philippines - The verbal tussle between officials of the Philippines and China continues with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday urging the Asian giant to be a "responsible nation" in the West Philippine Sea dispute.

In a statement, DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez said China has no choice but to follow the rule of law since the international arbitration for the case filed by the Philippines against China on the territorial dispute is now underway.

“To be accepted as a responsible nation, China has no choice. It must show to the international community its respect for the rule of law, including the mechanism of arbitration which is being pursued by the Philippines to clearly define respective maritime entitlements in the South China Sea," Hernandez said.

He also said China can end the ongoing sea dispute by "defining what the core issue is."

"China claims indisputable sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea through its nine-dash line claim, which is an excessive claim that is in gross violation of the international law,” he said.

Earlier this week, China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying accused the Philippines of allegedly continuing "to play up the issue of the South China Sea, distort the facts and smear China."

Malacañang refused to comment on China's latest statement, but reasserted that the country has legal basis to bring its territorial case against China before the United Nations (UN) amid criticisms from the Asian giant.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda welcomed the decision of the UN arbitration tribunal to start hearing the case of the Philippines against China on the West Philippine Sea dispute.

"We have always maintained that we have legal basis to bring the case before the arbitral tribunal. Certainly, this is a step that we welcome and we hope that this will be resolved in an expeditious manner," Lacierda said at a televised press briefing on Thursday.

Part of the issues that are going to be handled by the arbitral tribunal will be on jurisdiction, according to the Palace official.

"Knowing that we filed it in the arbitral tribunal, we have already anticipated that the issue on jurisdiction will be raised. And, therefore, our lawyers, both the Solicitor General and the other lawyers involved, are fully cognizant of that particular issue," said Lacierda.

The Philippines decided to take the legal action against China after exhausting all other means to peacefully settle their disputes in the West Philippine Sea, part of the South China Sea which Beijing claims is part of its historical sovereign territory.

The country is seeking to stop Chinese incursions into its exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea and to invalidate China’s sweeping claim to the disputed waters.