Filipinos, together with Vietnamese expatriates, display placards during a rally at the Chinese Consulate to protest China’s island-building and deployment of surface-to-air missile system at the disputed Paracel Islands off South China Sea, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 in the financial district of Makati city, east of Manila, Philippines. The protesters, who were also joined by students from the ASEAN countries, are urging the international community to join unified efforts in calling for peace, stability and development in the ASEAN region. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
WASHINGTON—China on Thursday accused the Philippines of “political provocation” in seeking international arbitration over territorial claims in the South China Sea, driving home its intention to ignore the proceedings despite pressure from Washington.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the decision by Philippine leaders to lodge a case with the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague was “irresponsible to the Filipino people and the future of the Philippines.”
China has refused to participate in the arbitration process, which it has denounced as illegitimate.
A ruling is expected later this year, after the tribunal decided last October that it could hear the case.
Manila, a defense treaty ally of Washington, initiated arbitration proceedings in January 2013 after Beijing refused to withdraw its ships from a disputed shoal, Panatag Shoal (international name: Scarborough Shoal), under a US-brokered deal that ended a two-month maritime standoff.
It contends that China’s massive territorial claims in the strategic waters do not conform with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and should be declared invalid.
The Philippines also asserts that some Chinese-occupied reefs and shoals do not generate, or create a claim to, territorial waters.
Wang blamed the Philippines for shutting the door to negotiations with China over their dispute and seeking arbitration without China’s consent.
Ready to negotiate
He said China was prepared to negotiate “tomorrow.”
“We are neighbors just separated by a narrow body of water,” Wang told the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. “We want to contribute to the Philippines’ economic development.”
In Manila, Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the Philippines would not comment on Wang’s remarks.
“The Philippine government respects the independence of the processes of the tribunal; hence we deem it inappropriate to engage other parties in argumentative discussion while we await the outcome of our petition before the tribunal,” Coloma said on Friday.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) also refused to comment on Wang’s criticism.
“The case is still under consideration by the arbitral tribunal. Out of respect for the process and the independence of the tribunal, we prefer not to comment,” Charles Jose, spokesperson for the DFA, said in a text message.
China ‘smeared’
Meanwhile in Beijing, China’s defense ministry said the commander of US forces in the Pacific had smeared China as part of an attempt to obtain additional defense funding from Congress, in the latest bout of verbal jousting accompanying rising tensions in the South China Sea.
Col. Wu Qian, a spokesperson for the defense ministry, strongly criticized Adm. Harry Harris Jr.’s assertions before Congress that China was militarizing the economically and strategically vital waterway and seeking “hegemony” in East Asia.
China adamantly denies such accusations and says Washington and its allies are responsible for raising tensions.
“I have noted that according to media reports, Admiral Harris made his remarks while seeking additional defense budget funds from Congress,” Wu told reporters at a monthly news briefing.
“We don’t interfere in your seeking defense budget funds, but you can’t carelessly smear China while asking for more money,” Wu said.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, including waters close to the shores of its smaller neighbors in the region.
The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan have rival claims in the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in global trade passes every year and where islets, reefs and atolls are believed to be sitting atop vast energy reserves.
Washington talks
Wang was in Washington this week for talks with his US counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry.
China has conducted a massive program of land reclamation over the past two years in the South China Sea.
At least three of the artificial islands China has built in the Spratly archipelago has airstrips that can be used by military planes.
China has also deployed surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island in the Paracel archipelago, and sent jet fighters to the island, which is also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.
Radars
It has also installed radars on Philippine-claimed Calderon Reef (Cuarteron Reef) in the Spratly archipelago, further to the south.
Vietnam is protesting China’s recent actions in the South China Sea. Le Hai Binh, spokesperson for the Vietnamese foreign ministry, on Thursday said China was conducting activities that seriously violate Vietnamese sovereignty and threaten peace, security and freedom of passage in the region.
Binh said Vietnam was urging China to act responsibly to maintain peace and stability.
Vietnam, he said, has “undisputable” sovereignty over the Paracels and the Spratlys.
Harris told Congress this week that China has constructed more than 1,210 hectares of artificial land in the Spratlys in a little more than two years, compared with about 44.85 hectares reclaimed by the other claimants in more than 45 years.
Wang said China had stopped reclaiming land but other countries were continuing.
Self-defense
He also said China’s military facilities on islands and reefs were needed for self-defense as other nations had already militarized surrounding shores.
China also intends to build civilian infrastructure like weather stations and emergency harbors for ships in danger, he said, which would benefit the international community.
Despite China’s endorsement of the sovereign rights of nations, Wu, the defense ministry spokesperson, reiterated China’s strong opposition to the potential deployment in South Korea of a defensive missile defense system against North Korea.
China says the system’s radar coverage would extend into China, harming its national security interests.
‘Preposterous’
Harris, in his testimony before the House of Representatives armed services committee, had said it was “preposterous” that China would try to “wedge itself” between South Korea and the United States over the issue.
The United States and China have repeatedly traded accusations over who is responsible for the rising tensions, with Washington saying China’s island-building project has disturbed the delicate balance between claimants.
Beijing says continued activities by US military ships and planes near the man-made islands have sought to provoke a response from Beijing.
US Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Thursday rejected that notion.
“The reason these activities are getting noticed isn’t because the United States is doing something new,” Carter said during congressional testimony. “We’ve been sailing in the South China Sea—and will continue to sail wherever international law allows—for decades now. We’re not doing anything new.” Reports from AP and Niña P. Calleja