Top United States, Chinese naval officers hold video talks

USS Lassen (DDG 82) operates in global waters near the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (Navy) Jianghu V-class frigate Dongguan (560) while on patrol in US 7th Fleet at South China Sea, Sep 29, 2015.

China is boycotting the proceedings because it claims that the court, the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in the Netherlands, has no jurisdiction in the matter, in part because China and the Philippines have signed bilateral agreements in the past on resolving the dispute. China’s move to undertake massive construction to transform at least seven shoals and reefs into islands in the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands have ratcheted up tensions.

The Philippines has asked the tribunal to declare China’s so-called “nine-dash line” territorial claim over much of the South China Sea invalid under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. A United States defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Chinese had expressed no desire to cancel scheduled visits by Chinese ships to a Florida port next week, and that an upcoming visit to China by Admiral Harry Harris, the commander of the US Pacific Command, would still take place. Yang gave no details of China’s claims and offered no specifics about how Beijing would respond in the future.

He added that in accordance with the terms of UNCLOS, the decision of the tribunal would be legally binding on both the Philippines and China.

The statement by Col. Yang Yujun followed the sailing of a US guided missile destroyer within the 12-nautical mile (22-kilometer) territorial limit of one of the islands newly created by China in the strategically vital region.

“We look forward to the arbitral tribunal’s hearing on the merits of the case”, said Jose.

This vague boundary was officially published on a map by China’s Nationalist government in 1947 and has been included in subsequent maps under Communist rule.

Nevertheless, the decision keeps the spotlight on China.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said the USA does not take a position on the competing sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, but it opposes coercion and wants all of the disputes to be resolved “peacefully, diplomatically and through worldwide legal mechanisms such as arbitration”.

On Thursday during a visit to Beijing, German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested China go to worldwide courts to resolve its rows over the South China Sea.

More than $5 trillion in trade passes through the South China Sea each year where Vietnam, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan also have rival claims.

UNCLOS does not rule on sovereignty but it does outline a system of territory and economic zones that can be claimed from features such as islands, rocks and reefs.

On seven other submissions, including that China had violated the Philippines’ sovereign right to exploit its own territorial waters, the court said it would reserve judgment about jurisdiction until it had decided the merits of the case.