The Hague Tribunal’s ruling in 2016 that upheld the Philippines' maritime claims in the South China Sea has undermined the international rule of law, and is not valid for resolving territorial disputes, said experts.
At an ASEAN summit held on Thursday in Vientiane, Laos, Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. emphasized that the Philippines have abided by the rule of law on the South China Sea issue.
Eight years have passed since the Hague Tribunal's controversial ruling in favor of the Philippines, known as the South China Sea Arbitration Award, a ruling that China strongly opposes and considers illegitimate.
Experts said the Philippines' denial of China's territorial sovereignty over Ren'ai Jiao violates the principle of "the land dominates the sea" under international law.
"The UNCLOS actually came into effect in the early 1980s. And that it came into effect on the presumption that all sovereignty questions were already settled, or were knowingly settled between different nation-states. In other words, UNCLOS does not deal with sovereignty questions," said Warwick Powell, adjunct professor at the Queensland University of Technology.
According to UNCLOS Article 298, state parties have the right to file a written declaration to exclude disputes regarding maritime delimitation or historic bays. By filing a declaration in 2006, China has excluded disputes from compulsory procedures.
Experts said the Arbitral Tribunal violated the principle of state consent, exercised its jurisdiction “ultra vires,” and rendered an award in disregard of the law.
"The way forward for the South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines is really diplomacy and political settlement," said Anna Rosario Malindog-Uy, vice president of external affairs of the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute.
"You need a format in which the parties in disputes both agree on. Without that, there's no legitimacy," said Powell.
South China Sea Arbitration Award not valid for resolving territorial disputes: experts
Scholars and experts on the Taiwan issue gathered in Beijing on Friday to reaffirm the importance of the one-China principle and condemn Taiwan leader Lai Ching-te's advocacy of the "two-state" fallacy in the speech one day earlier.
At a seminar on UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 2758 and the one-China principle, hosted by the Institute of Taiwan Studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing, experts first elaborated on the one-China principle, based on the historical and legal context that Taiwan has been part of China since ancient times.
They refuted Lai's statement that "the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China are not subordinate to each other" and dismissed the claims of so-called "sovereignty."
"Both the mainland's constitution and the relevant regulations in the Taiwan region stipulate that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China. Therefore, Lai Ching-te blatantly claiming that the two sides are 'not subordinate to each other' is illegal in itself. It not only violates mainland laws but also goes against the region's regulations," said Li Zhenguang, dean of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at Beijing Union University.
"When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, it replaced the then Republic of China as the sole legal government representing the whole of China; in 1971, the UNGA Resolution 2758 resolved the issue of China's international representation. 'Taiwan' is just the name of a region within the territory now represented by the People's Republic of China, just like Guangdong and Fujian," said Wu Yongping, director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at Tsinghua University.
Peng Weixue, Deputy Director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that Lai's claims of "peace," "democracy," and "goodwill" in the speech are deceptive, aimed at smearing the mainland and promoting the so-called "two-state" rhetoric by asserting that the two sides are "not subordinate to each other," which will further exacerbate tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
"No matter how many words of 'goodwill', 'peace' and 'maintaining the status quo across the Taiwan Strait' Lai Ching-te talks about, as long as he remains headstrong on 'Taiwan independence' in terms of the position, guiding principle, actions, and policies, the tension in the Taiwan Strait will continue to spiral up in the future," he said.
"Judging from his words and actual actions during this period, he is really a die-hard 'Taiwan independence' advocate. I consider him a 'fire-raiser of war'," said Zheng Jian, deputy director of the studies committee of the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification.
Mainland experts slam Taiwan leader's fallacy
