BEIJING, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) — Xu Hong, Director-General of the Department of Treaty and Law of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, gave an interview to Xinhua on Sunday as the ministry was authorized to release a position paper of the Chinese government on the matter of jurisdiction in the South China Sea arbitration initiated by the Republic of the Philippines.

The interview came as follows:

Xinhua: Why does the Chinese government need to publish a position paper on the matter of jurisdiction in the South China Sea arbitration initiated by the Philippines?

Xu Hong: On 22 January 2013, the Philippines unilaterally initiated international arbitral proceedings regarding the dispute with China in the South China Sea. The Chinese Government is firmly opposed to that, and has reiterated on several occasions its firm position not to accept or participate in the arbitration.

Despite China’ s strong objection, the Philippines has been obstinately pushing forward the arbitral proceedings. Some people, who do not know the truth, have questioned China’ s position of not accepting or participating in the arbitration. Some others, who harbor ulterior motives, have made one-sided and misleading readings of international rules and, on that basis, made accusations or insinuations that China does not abide by international law, and perversely branded China as a “challenger” to international rules.

Read more: http://english.cntv.cn/2014/12/07/ARTI1417922826505956.shtml