Manila takes wrong road to force arbitration: Chinese diplomat

MANILA - A senior Chinese diplomat on Tuesday slammed the Philippines' move to seek international arbitration on a territorial dispute between the two countries, saying it was not conducive to solving the issue.

China was committed to resolving its disputes with the Philippines through bilateral negotiations, which had proved successful in settling territorial and maritime disputes with other neighbors, said Sun Xiangyang, charge d'affaires at the Chinese embassy in Manila, citing three reasons why China did not accept the arbitration.

Under international law, China had every right not to accept the arbitration initiated by the Philippines, Sun said.

He said the dispute was principally over islands, which were not covered by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Moreover, in accordance with the convention, in case of disputes over territory, maritime delineation and historic title or rights, a signatory to the Convention may refuse to accept the jurisdiction of any international justice or arbitration as long as it makes a declaration, Sun said.

So far, 34 countries have made such declarations based on this provision. China made its declaration back in 2006, he said.

Thirdly, resorting to arbitration did not meet people's expectations for friendship in both China and the Philippines.

Sun said, under normal circumstances, submission of a dispute to international arbitration required agreement between the two parties concerned. Yet, the Philippines had failed to notify the Chinese side, not to mention seeking China's consent, before it initiated the action.

The Philippines, in disregard of China's position, had insisted on going ahead with the arbitration, he said.

"What the Philippine side did seriously damaged bilateral relations with China. We find it very hard to understand these moves of the Philippines and we are deeply disturbed by and concerned with the consequence of such moves," Sun said.

"We hope that the Philippine side will correct its mistake and come back to the right track of resolving the disputes through bilateral negotiation," he added.

The Philippines on Sunday submitted nearly 4,000 pages of memorial to the Arbitral tribunal on the dispute with China over the South China Sea.