From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 28): China hopes for no more Huangyan
Islands conflicts: FM
The situation around the Huangyan Islands has remained stable and China hopes
there are no more conflicts concerning the issue, Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesman Hong Lei said Monday.
Hong's remarks came at a routine press conference after reports quoted
Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III as saying he could not allow China to
claim effective control over the Huangyan Islands, as doing so could encourage
China to continue to move into the resource-rich Liyue Tan, also known as the
Reed Bank.
"The Huangyan Islands are an indisputable part of Chinese territory," Hong
said, noting the issues concerning the islands last year were caused by
Philippine military vessels harassing Chinese fishermen and fishing boats.
Hong also stressed that China has a clear stance on the Liyue Tan, which is a
part of the Nansha archipelago in the South China Sea.
"China has undisputed sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and neighboring
sea," Hong reiterated, calling on the two sides to resolve the disputes via
bilateral negotiation and consultation, which, according to Hong, all parties
have unanimously agreed upon.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Tuesday the Philippine
government has taken the South China Sea disputes to an Arbitral Tribunal under
the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=&sid=&nid=&rid=491762
I love the Chinese position: "Let's be reasonable and negotiate our differences but oh, by the way the Huangyan Islands, Liyue Tan, and all of the South China Sea belongs to us." So, based on Chinese statements, what is there to negotiate? They are basically asserting that they own all of the SCS and screw everyone else.
ReplyDelete