China to US: Respect the facts

MANILA, Philippines - China has called on the United States to stop making “irresponsible remarks” supporting Manila’s position on the West Philippine Sea issue and denouncing Chinese vessels’ blockade of Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal.

“We urge the US to respect facts, stop making irresponsible remarks and cease to encourage the provocative and risky actions of relevant country,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a press conference on Tuesday.

“It is without any doubt that the Philippine side is the one who provokes and makes troubles,” Hong said.

US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki and US embassy Charge d’Affaires Brian Goldbeck said that China’s action on Ayungin Shoal “is a provocative move that raises tensions” in the region.

They said that “pending resolution of competing claims in the South China Sea, there should be no interference with the efforts of claimants to maintain the status quo.”

Hong said there would not have been an escalation of dispute between China and the Philippines had Manila not attempted to “illegally occupy” the Ayungin Shoal by running aground its military vessel in 1999.

On Sunday, Manila electronically transmitted a 4,000-page memorial or written argument of its position on the West Philippine Sea issue to the United Nations arbitral tribunal based in The Hague.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin summoned Philippine Ambassador to China Erlinda Basilio to lodge a strong complaint over Manila’s seeking of international arbitration on the maritime dispute.

Despite Manila’s turning to international arbitration for help, Hong said China would not change its position and reiterated Beijing’s preference for bilateral talks in resolving territorial spats.

Meanwhile, former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew expressed doubts the maritime dispute would ever be resolved, citing conflicting principles invoked by parties involved to support their claims.

In a Forbes article posted on the magazine’s website last week, Lee said China would continue to rely on its historical claims despite efforts to bring the territorial row before the international arbitral tribunal.

“A rising China is asserting its position by claiming historical rights to these waters. And the disputes, which arise from claims based on different principles, are unlikely to be resolved,” he said.

“If historical claims can define jurisdiction over waters and oceans, the Chinese can point to the fact that 600 years ago they sailed these waters unchallenged,” he said.

Lee, widely regarded as the father of modern Singapore, believes China would not allow its sea boundaries to be decided by external parties.

“I don’t believe the Chinese will submit their claims, which are based primarily on China’s historical presence in these waters, to be decided by rules that were defined at a time when China was weak,” he said.

“And China has judged that the US won’t risk its present good relations with China over a dispute between the Philippines and China,” he pointed out.

Lee said the ideal solution to the dispute would be to resolve it based on international law and legal principles if a negotiated agreement cannot be reached.

“Can this be done through a juridical platform, such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ)? Keep in mind that major powers, including China and the US, don’t generally submit to the jurisdiction of the ICJ or other such forums,” the former leader of Singapore said.

China is claiming virtually the entire West Philippine Sea and South China Sea through the so-called nine-dash line, which covers more than 100 islets, atolls and reefs. Its territorial claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan. Alexis Romero