Piece Of Waste Paper: China Dismisses Arbitral Award

China has again belittled the Philippines’ legal victory in an international arbitral court against Beijing, calling the landmark ruling “nothing more than a piece of waste paper.”

“The award of the arbitration is illegal, null and void. It is nothing more than a piece of waste paper,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in a press conference in Beijing on Monday, July 12, the fifth anniversary of the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague invalidating China’s vast maritime claims in the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Zhao said the South China Sea arbitration violated the principle of state consent and the arbitral tribunal exercised its jurisdiction ultra vires and rendered an award in disregard of law.

The arbitration, he added, has major fallacies in its fact-finding and application of law and violates the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and international law.

He insisted China’s sovereignty and rights and interests over the South China Sea are not affected at all by the arbitration and that China does not accept any claim or act based on it.

On Sunday, July 11, the United States called on China to stop provocative attacks in the South China Sea as Washington repeated its warning to Beijing that an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels or aircraft would trigger the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.

US State Secretary Antony Blinken reiterated the US commitment on the fifth anniversary of the arbitral court ruling.

Zhao called the arbitration a political farce initiated and manipulated by the United States to smear and suppress China.

“China firmly upholds and practices international rule of law. As an original contracting party of UNCLOS, China always correctly understands and earnestly implements the Convention, and uphold its authority and integrity with concrete actions,” Zhao added.

According to Zhao, the passage through the South China Sea has been “smooth” and “safe” for a period of time, and not a single vessel has ever reported that its navigation is hindered or threatened in the South China Sea.

“The South China Sea is the shared home for the countries in the region. It should not be a hunting field for the US to seek geopolitical self-interests,” he said.

The previous Aquino administration filed the arbitration case against China in 2013 in the wake of a standoff at the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal between the Philippine Navy and China’s maritime surveillance vessels.

“The last straw that pushed us over the edge was the betrayal of China at Bajo de Masinloc (Panatag Shoal). At the height of the incident, the United States mediated between us and China wherein both parties agreed to leave the territory in question as a show of good faith and willingness to cooperate in order  to  ease  the  tension.  As  agreed,  the  Philippines  pulled  out  our  ship  and  Chinese  state vessels stayed in our territory claiming that no such agreement was made.  So, the question now is how do we respond to this new assertiveness and aggression?” the late former president Benigno Aquino III said in his acceptance speech for the 2021 JW Diokno Awards in recognition of his efforts to assert the country’s sovereignty in the WPS  on Feb. 26 this year.

The arbitral court, in its ruling three years later, invalidated China’s claim and reaffirmed the Philippines’ maritime entitlements.

But shortly after the issuance of the ruling in 2016, President Duterte decided to shelve it, apparently to appease China. Recently, he even called the arbitral award a piece of paper that he could throw in a wastebasket.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros condemned Zhao’s statement and asked Malacañang to denounce it.

“It is long overdue. It is disturbing to read that China's position of relegating our 2016 victory to "waste paper" is similar to how President Duterte described this award. The words that come out of the President's mouth should echo the sentiment of the Filipino public, not of China,” Hontiveros said.

‘Show a little courage’

Reacting to the Chinese foreign ministry statement, Vice President Leni Robredo said the Duterte administration should “show a little courage” against China.

“I hope our government is also willing to show a little courage regarding the issue, because the more we back out, the more they will pin us down. When it comes to our country’s interest, we should fight back,” Robredo said in Filipino and English in a video message.

Robredo said she was not surprised by the Chinese official’s remark, but “the tone is unnecessary and unfortunate.”

“After all, governments are expected to assert their nations’ interests, even if sometimes they have to bend logic in the process,” she said. 

The US State Department said China’s latest pronouncement was a clear violation of its obligations under the UNCLOS for refusal to honor the arbitral ruling.

“The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is a state party to UNCLOS. The PRC has agreed to abide by compulsory dispute settlement with regard to arbitration. But by ignoring the 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling on the South China Sea and dismissing it, as you said, as a mere scrap of paper, Beijing is in clear violation of its obligations under UNCLOS,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

“When it comes to these maritime claims, we do endorse the unanimous, decisive ruling that was put forward by the arbitral council,” he added.

In a statement, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana called the arbitral ruling a “milestone in our country’s history as it affirms our claim over the West Philippine Sea.”

He stressed that “the award is final and executory.”

Lorenzana joined the Filipino people in celebrating the fifth anniversary of the arbitral award and welcomed the support of other nations that “consider the award as having the force of international law.”

“We likewise appreciate their serious concerns over excessive maritime claims in the South China Sea,” Lorenzana said.

The defense chief said all interested parties are once again urged “to heed the call for a rules-based international order and refrain from acts that may exacerbate the tense situation in the area.”

He explained that the arbitral award provided not only the Philippines but the rest of the world with a framework for greater cooperation and understanding of complex maritime conflicts.

“Consistent with Philippine national policy, we shall continue to seek all avenues to achieve a peaceful and friendly management of all standing maritime disputes,” he said. – With Michael Punongbayan, Edu Punay, Helen Flores, Rhodina Villanueva