China: Manila must set aside Hague ruling for sea talks

By Mahmut Atanur

BEIJING (AA) – China is insisting that negotiations with the Philippines over the disputed South China Sea will depend on Manila setting aside an upcoming ruling by an international court in The Hague, state media reported Monday.

The state-run China Daily cited anonymous sources “close to the issues between the two countries” as saying that Beijing is ready to begin talks on matters such as joint development and cooperation in scientific research if Manila first disregards the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling due July 12.

The Philippines is contesting Beijing's historical claim to around 90 percent of the Sea -- one of the world's busiest shipping lanes -- and launched the arbitration process to rule on the matter in 2013 under former President Benigno Aquino III.

Aquino handed the presidency over to Rodrigo Duterte, who has said he would consider holding bilateral talks with China about the dispute, last week.

China has insisted that the Hague court lacks jurisdiction over the case as it involves sovereignty and maritime delimitation -- issues which Beijing says are not subject to third-party arbitration.

One of the Daily’s sources was quoted Monday as saying “Manila must put aside the result of the arbitration in a substantive approach."

Meanwhile, the People's Liberation Army is set to begin military exercises in a designated part of the South China Sea, where ships will be prohibited from entering, from Tuesday to July 11.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea including a cluster of islands, reefs and atolls further south called the Spratlys.

Other claimants are Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

Parts of the South China Sea that Manila claims fall under its exclusive economic zone and have been named the West Philippine Sea by the Philippine government.

All claimants -- bar Brunei -- have stationed military troops in their territories in the vast area, said to be sitting atop huge oil and gas deposits.

Territorial claims are normally the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), but the ICJ only entertains cases if all parties in the dispute participate.