Let us hope this will be the start of the process to defuse the tensions in the South China Sea.
Xi's remarks were echoed four days later by former State councilor Dai Bingguo, who said at a meeting in Washington that the tribunal's ruling would be "nothing but a piece of paper".
The tribunal has explained the case in an irresponsible way and set a bad precedent, according to experts and scholars from around the world.
With that in mind, Washington may want to seriously rethink its approach, because dispatching gunboats is not working. Neither is the "lawfare" underway.
Third-party arbitration is not a panacea for international disputes. And China's contribution to international peace will not be belittled because of its refusal to implement the arbitral tribunal's ruling.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague was not a best place to resolve the dispute between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, a Croatian law expert said.
China could consider quitting the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea if the upcoming ruling by an arbitration court in The Hague infringes on China's sovereignty, an expert said.
In late October, 2015, the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Tribunal issued the Award on Jurisdiction and Admissibility in the Philippines-China arbitration case.
For many years, the People's Republic of China has been a strong supporter of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Recently, however, China's experience has been that the Convention and, in particular, its provisions on compulsory dispute settlement, may be exploited by other states for political reasons.
Parties involved in maritime disputes should use peaceful means to settle their differences in line with international law, said a candidate for UN secretary-general.
A fleet of the People's Liberation Army Navy is participating in the ongoing Rim of the Pacific Exercise even as much of the media attention remains focused on the South China Sea.
Brendan S. Mulvaney, associate chair for the Languages and Cultures Department at the US Naval Academy, and William Jones, Executive Intelligence Review Washington bureau chief, agreed with what former State councilor Dai Bingguo stressed in a speech yesterday that China and the US should dial down the rhetoric on the South China Sea issue.