July 12, 2016
China's South China Sea Claims Dashed by Hague Court Ruling. China’s prestige as a rising global power suffered a blow as an international court said its efforts to assert control over the South China Sea exceeded the law.
“There was no evidence that China has historically exercised exclusive control over the waters or their resources,” the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague said Tuesday in a statement. As such there was no legal basis for the country’s claim, it said.
The outcome is a double setback for China, even as it boycotted the process and dismissed the ruling: Not only will the ruling empower other claimant states, it undercuts President Xi Jinping efforts to present the more powerful China as a responsible player on the world stage. That raises the risk China responds by hardening its stance over a waterway that hosts about $5 trillion of trade a year and is a link for global energy shipments.
The ruling went beyond what analysts had expected, and prompted an immediate response from Beijing.
"The ruling is as bad as was possible," Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Communist Party-run Global Times, wrote in a Weibo post. "This is the worst, the most extreme version of several possible scenarios."
The case was brought by the Philippines, arguing that China’s historic rights claims don’t comply with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. While the court says the ruling is binding, it lacks a mechanism for enforcement. China’s assertions are based on a 1947 map showing vague dashes -- known as the nine-dash line -- that cover about 80 percent of the waterway.
Many of the court’s findings concerned the rights to territorial seas generated by various features. China has reclaimed some 3,200 acres (1,290 hectares) of land and built ports, lighthouses and runways. Under UNCLOS, man-made islands don’t generate maritime entitlements beyond the natural state of the feature.
“This is a severe blow for China -- it drives a legal coach and horses through China’s position that it has historical rights within the nine-dash line,” said Euan Graham, director of the international security program at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney. The key is now China’s reaction and whether it takes a strong response that includes withdrawing from UNCLOS.
‘Null, Void’
China said it neither accepted nor acknowledged the ruling and reaffirmed its view the proceedings went against international law. "The award is null and void and has no binding force," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement published by the official Xinhua News Agency.
China conducted test flights Tuesday at airstrips on newly reclaimed land at Mischief and Subi reefs, Xinhua said, confirming the facilities had been completed. The trial shows the sites can handle civilian flights safely, it said.
"The ruling is likely to push China to a more confrontational position and it will inflame the regional tensions,” said Ni Lexiong, director of the Sea Power and Defense Policy Research Institute at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. “China is likely to carry out more military exercises in the concerned waters in the near term.”
Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay told reporters the country was studying the ruling and called for restraint. “The Philippines strongly affirms its respect for this milestone decision as an important contribution to ongoing efforts in addressing disputes in South China Sea,” Yasay said.
The court found that:
•Scarborough Shoal doesn’t generate a 200 nautical mile (370 kilometer) exclusive economic zone
•Mischief Reef, Second Thomas Shoal and Subi Reef were submerged at high tide in their natural condition and don’t generate a 12 nautical mile territorial sea or EEZ
•Johnson Reef, Cuarteron Reef and Fiery Cross Reef, on which China has completed a 3 kilometer airstrip, are high-tide features that generate a territorial sea, but not an EEZ
•Taiwan-held Itu Aba is also a high-tide feature and doesn’t generate an EEZ
The court found China caused “severe harm” to the environment with its island-building and that it breached UNCLOS regulations in harassing Philippine vessels around the Scarborough Shoal, which was seized by China’s coast guard in 2012.
“Vietnam strongly supports resolving sea disputes through peaceful measures, including diplomatic and legal procedures, without using or threatening to use force in accordance with international law,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said in a statement.
While the U.S. doesn’t take a position on the claims, it worked diplomatic channels to garner support for the court’s jurisdiction ahead of the ruling. The spat more broadly reflects a tussle for influence in the western Pacific between the U.S., which has dominated the region since World War II, and a rising China.
The U.S. insists it has the right to protect freedom of navigation in the waters and has carried out voyages and flights near features claimed by China. "It is our expectation that both parties will comply with their obligations and exercise restraint," the U.S. government said in statement.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida also urged all parties to comply with the ruling. Japan has “consistently advocated the importance of the rule of law and the use of peaceful means, not the use of force or coercion” in settling maritime disputes, he said in a statement. Japan has its own territorial dispute with China in the East China Sea.