CHINA will hold military drills in the disputed South China Sea, Chinese officials said Sunday, ahead of an international tribunal ruling over Beijing’s maritime claims in the resource-rich area.
The drills will be held in waters around the Paracel Islands from July 5 to 11, with other ships prohibited from entering the waters during that time, a short statement by the maritime safety administration said.
The military exercises come as an international tribunal in The Hague prepares to rule on a case brought by the Philippines challenging China’s claims in the strategic waterway.
Manila lodged the suit against Beijing in early 2013, saying that after 17 years of negotiations it had exhausted all political and diplomatic avenues to settle the dispute.
Beijing, which asserts sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea despite rival claims from Southeast Asian neighbors, insists that the Permanent Court of Arbitration has no jurisdiction over the issue and has boycotted the proceedings.
Basing its claims on a vaguely defined “nine-dash” Chinese map dating back to the 1940s, it has rapidly turned reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes.
Manila contends that the “nine-dash” line has no basis under international law and Beijing has no “historic” claim to the ocean.
The Palace on Sunday said President Rodrigo Duterte will not be attending the 11th Asia-Europe Leaders Meeting (Asem) on July 15 and 16 in Mongolia that will tackle the South China Sea row and other key issues.
“We have not discussed this, but based on his earlier past pronouncements he mentioned that he will be spending more time in the Philippines, now that he has just assumed post as President,” said Secretary Martin Andanar, chief of Presidential Communications Office, in an interview over state-run radio station dzRB.
Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. has said he would attend the Asean summit as the President’s representative, but did not offer a reason for Duterte to skip it.
The Foreign Affairs Department had earlier recommended that Duterte attend the forum that gathers the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union, Japan, China and South Korea.
“The meeting of leaders is always interesting because you can do your reading of what their [other leaders] priorities are,” said Laura del Rosario, former DFA undersecretary for economic relations.
The summit is expected to tackle not only the South China Sea conflict but Britain’s recent exit from EU.
Tensions in the South China Sea have alarmed other nations, and most notably the United States which has key defense treaties with many allies in the region, and in a show of strength has sent warships close to some of the Chinese claimed reefs.
But President Xi Jinping said in a speech last week that China will never compromise on sovereignty, and that the country was “not afraid of trouble.”
In an apparent stab at the US, Xi said: “We will not show up at other people’s front doors to flex our muscles. That does not show strength or scare anyone.”
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims to the waterway.
