The Government of Antigua & Barbuda has come under fire for its policy of support for the claims made by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to the disputed South China Sea and has been accused of a “foreign policy of hypocrisy”.

The criticisms come from two academics, one a student, and the other a senior lecturer, who both agree that China’s disregard for a decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration that ruled it had no claim to the area was troubling for any small state.

Third-year law student at Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia J’moul Francis said, “What China did was to draw nine … lines which basically claimed the entire South China Sea and called it theirs.”

He pointed to Antigua & Barbuda’s ongoing gaming dispute with the United States (US) in which that country had ignored a World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling.

“By supporting them, on one hand we are saying that we are being taken advantage of by larger countries. They are abusing the international process and they ignoring international rules, but on the other hand we’re supporting a large country who can just … claim an entire sea,” Francis said.

He added, “We do that because China is so loving and caring to us. It seems to me to be a foreign policy of hypocrisy.”

Senior Lecturer at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Institute of International relations in St Augustine Trinidad, Dr Mark Kirton expressed a similar view.

“The Caribbean has to be a little concerned about the refusal of China to adhere to the judgment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration … The international legal order must be maintained,” he said.

Both were speaking on this week’s Big Issues programme along with Ambassador Colin Murdoch, who indicated that China lobbies for the government’s support and the two countries enjoy strong diplomatic relations marked by heavy Chinese investment and development support in Antigua & Barbuda.

http://antiguaobserver.com/govt-draws-criticism-for-supporting-chinas-sea-claim/