UN’s Ban urges resolution of sea disputes on China trip

The pair also discussed tensions involving the South China Sea ahead of a ruling expected next week by an global arbitration panel on the validity of China’s claims to virtually all of the sea.

The Taiwan military has prepared contingency measures ahead of an upcoming ruling by an worldwide court on a dispute between the Philippines and China over the South China Sea, Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) said on Thursday.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Dutch city of The Hague is set to make its final decision on July 12 in the case between the Philippines and China.

Wang called the case a “farce”, according to Xinhua.

Wang urged Washington not to take “sides on issues related to sovereign disputes, be prudent with its actions and words, and not to take any actions that infringe upon the sovereignty and security interests of China”.

The Philippines is questioning Beijing’ claims in the South China Sea in its case at the worldwide tribunal.

“The fact that the Chinese are trying to rally support from every country that they can regardless of how far afield or how small, demonstrates that the Chinese do care about their reputation and image”, Glaser said.

As the United Nations tribunal on the South China Sea dispute is set to deliver its verdict next week, China which boycotted its proceedings flexed muscles with military exercises and calls by its official media to be ready for military confrontation with U.S., while unleashing a global campaign to discredit the judgement.

Taiwan’s military has response measures in place and will respond appropriately to any developments following an upcoming ruling by an worldwide court on a dispute between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) said Thursday.

– Any ruling on the legality of the nine-dash line, Beijing’s controversial claim to much of the South China Sea, will be closely watched.

Beijing has already rejected the authority of the five-judge panel and repeatedly said it will not abide by its decision.

The newspaper has previously accused Washington of seeking to turn the South China Sea “into a powder keg” and warned it not to underestimate China’s determination to defend its territorial claims.

“Our Secretary of Defence and the President himself regularly list the South China Sea among the world’s most concerning worldwide friction points and raise it at the highest levels with their Chinese interlocutors, including Chinese President Xi Jinping”, he said.

China’s claims to most of the water and its rocks, reefs and small islands conflict with claims from the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

Hong reiterated that the arbitration case filed by the Aquino III administration is “illegal and invalid from the start”, and he urged the new Philippine government to “abandon the old administration’s wrong practice” and “come back to the proper path of talking and negotiating with China”.

But he said the dispute over sovereignty would not be solved for many years, describing it as a “generational issue”, and that rival claimants must in the meantime work cooperatively.