HERNANDEZ VS HUA | DFA spokesman rebuts counterpart on PH strategy in sea row

From InterAksyon (Jul 19): HERNANDEZ VS HUA | DFA spokesman rebuts counterpart on PH strategy in sea row

Excuse me, look who’s talking. Spokespersons of the foreign ministry offices of China and the Philippines are accusing each other of distorting facts about the two Asian neighbors’ maritime dispute.

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Raul Hernandez, in a press briefing Thursday, brushed aside an earlier statement by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chungying accusing the Philippines of twisting the facts about China in order to portray the Philippines as a victim in the dispute in the West Philippine Sea.

Hua had affirmed Beijing’s position to keep its proposal for bilateral negotiations on the table, notwithstanding Manila’s recent statement that it is by now “impossible” to have one-on-one negotiations and consultations with China given the latter’s “rigid position” on the dispute. The DFA’s Hernandez had said earlier this week it’s not true that Manila was snubbing bilateral negotiations as a matter of whim. In fact, he said, Manila had patiently engaged Beijing in bilateral talks over the past 17 years; and at least 50 talks were held between parties since the April 2012 Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal standoff alone.

Hernandez said Thursday that China “has no choice” but to show to the international community “its respect for the rule of law including the mechanism of arbitration,” as the process under the United Nations arbitral court had begun, with the five multinational judges meeting in Hamburg last July 11, and drafting rules to govern the case. The court gave Beijing and Manila until first week of August to comment on the draft rules.

China “has no choice,” said Hernandez, if it wants be accepted as a responsible nation. “It must show to the international community its respect for the rule of law including the mechanism of arbitration which is being pursued by the Philippines to clearly define respective maritime entitlements in the SCS.”

Beijing dissatisfied with Manila's refusal to negotiate

During a press conference in China, Hua again commented Hernandez’s remarks that it is way past bilateral consulations and negotiations. “We regret that the Philippines stated that it has become impossible to continue bilateral discussions with China, and are dissatisfied with its refusal to diplomatic negotiations and closure of the door to dialogue,” Hua said.

She added: “We are firmly opposed to the Philippines’ indifference to China’s lawful rights and interests and legitimate concerns as well as its willful act of pushing for international arbitration.”

She asserted that China sticks to the “longstanding position of safeguarding national territorial sovereignty, which is totally legitimate. Meanwhile, bearing in mind the relations between China and the Philippines as well as regional peace and stability, China stays committed to solving disputes concerning territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation through bilateral negotiations in accordance with relevant regulations of international law and the spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC).”

This position, she insisted, “remains unchanged”.

Hua expressed regret that the “Philippines has changed its attitude and approach in handling the issue”.

Hernandez: global community backs arbitration

Hernandez, however, asserted that the international community supported Manila’s move to elevate the case before the UN tribunal, following the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“We have the support of international communication. As far as our approach to the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea issue, the international community is behind us in our possession to a rule based approach in settling disputes in the West Philippine Sea including our initiative for arbitration,” said Hernandez. China, he added, can end the West Philippine Sea dispute by “defining what the core issue is”.

Bilateral negotiations have always failed because China insists, said the DFA official, on claiming indisputable sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea through its nine-dash-line claim. In filing the case before the arbitral tribunal, the Philippines said such is an “excessive claim that is in gross violation of the international law”.

Hernandez said, “That is the core issue as stressed by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs in the ASEAN [Association of the South East Asian Nations] meeting in Brunei,” he added.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/66734/hernandez-vs-hua--dfa-spokesman-rebuts-counterpart-on-ph-strategy-in-sea-row