Beijing calls Hague ruling ‘null and void’

China said on Friday that the ruling by an arbitration court in the Netherlands on the jurisdiction and admissibility of the South China Sea is null and void, after The Hague ruled that it can take on the case established at the request of the Philippines. China's sovereignty and rights in the South China Sea are grounded in history and protected under international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday in a statement. "The Philippines and the Arbitral Tribunal have abused relevant procedures and obstinately forced ahead with the arbitration ... have severely violated the legitimate rights that China enjoys as a State Party to the UNCLOS," the statement said. The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration on Thursday said it could hear arguments of the case filed by Manila in 2013 questioning the maritime boundaries claimed by China, while Beijing said in a position paper in December 2014 that the essence of the arbitration is territorial sovereignty. The ministry statement said that the Philippines' decision to seek arbitration was "a political provocation under the cloak of law." Yu Zhirong, a research fellow at the Ocean University of China, told the Global Times on Friday that the arbitration is a legal issue only on the surface, and it is a "political game" conducted by the Philippines and the US essentially to pressure China. "The arbitration filed by the Philippines is based on the miscalculation that China will not resolutely safeguard its rights and that Manila will have support from Washington. The South China Sea issue is especially a result of the US involvement in the region under its pivot to the Asia-Pacific," Teng Jianqun, a research fellow from China Institute of International Studies, told China Central Television on Friday. "The motivation [behind] the arbitration is not to settle disputes, but an attempt to negate China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea for its own sake," Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said Friday in a media briefing, reiterating China's position of "non-acceptance and non-participation" in the proceedings. Liu criticized the Philippines for failing to adhere to its own commitment to settle disputes through negotiation and consultation, which China will stick to in order to safeguard peace and stability of the South China Sea. "The result of the ruling will by no means affect China's sovereignty and rights in the South China Sea," he noted. Foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang also said at the Friday briefing that international arbitration is only one out of many ways to solve disputes, which must follow the "State Agreement Principle," calling for an objective, fair and rational perspective on the South China Sea issue. On several occasions since the 1990s, China and the Philippines have agreed, and reaffirmed, that disputes would be resolved through negotiation and consultation. Meanwhile, analysts voiced concern on the ruling of The Hague, which they claimed is under deep influence from the US and Japan as most members are legal experts from Western countries. "The Philippines has invited several lawyers from the US specializing in international territorial disputes in the proceedings. This suggests that the final ruling may not be to the advantage of China," Liu Feng, a Hainan-based marine expert, told the Global Times on Friday.