China insists again on bilateral talks on South China Sea dispute with PHL

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
China asserted anew its stance on addressing its long-running maritime territorial dispute with the Philippines through bilateral talks, its foreign ministry said this week.
Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei also maintained China has historical, jurisprudential evidence to support its claim to the Nansha (Spratly) islands, China’s Xinhua reported.
“China hopes the Philippines will honor its commitment by not taking any action that could complicate the issue, positively respond to China’s proposal to establish a bilateral dialogue mechanism on maritime issues and work to solve the issue through bilateral negotiations,” the Xinhuanet report quoted Hong as saying at a press briefing Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Hong said Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Ma Keqing gave Philippine officials a note and related notice after expressing China’s rejection of United Nations arbitration of its South China Sea dispute with the Philippines..
He said the Philippines’ note on UN mediation in the territorial dispute and related notice “not only violate the consensus enshrined in the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), but are also factually flawed and contain false accusations.”
But he reiterated China is committed to addressing the dispute through bilateral talks.
According to Hong, the consensus in the DOC states that disputes should be solved through talks between the nations directly involved.

He insisted China has sufficient historical and jurisprudential evidence to support its claim to the Nansha islands, which are located in the South China Sea, and their adjacent waters.  — ELR, GMA

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail