Beijing: As the UN tribunal on the South China Sea dispute is set to deliver its verdict next week, China which boycotted its proceedings flexed muscles with military exercises and calls by its official media to be ready for military confrontation with US, while unleashing a global campaign to discredit the judgement. “China is a peace-loving country and deals with foreign relations with discretion, but it won’t flinch if the US and its small clique keep encroaching on its interests on its doorstep,” state-run Global Times said in an editorial today.
“China hopes disputes can be resolved by talks, but it must be prepared for any military confrontation. This is common sense in international relations,” said the editorial titled ‘Power game decides post-arbitration order’.
Asked about the offensive tone of the editorial talking about military confrontation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei parried the question saying that “in recent days we have been repeating we will not accept a third party settlement of the dispute and we will not accept any settlement imposed on us”. “Regardless of the principle that the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) shall not arbitrate on territorial disputes, the arbitration becomes nothing but a farce. But the US could use it to impose more pressure on China, causing more tensions in the South China Sea (SCS),” the editorial said.
The international arbitration tribunal was constituted based on UNCLOS following petition by the Philippines, which along with Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan reject China’s claims over almost all of the SC.
China has already begun naval exercises in the disputed area from today which will end on July 11 a day before the judgement to be delivered by the tribunal. Hong defended the exercises saying that they are routine drills in accordance with military’s annual plan. Meanwhile China has mounted a massive global campaign to convey its stand against the tribunal verdict and garner support.
One week before a UN arbitration panel issues its decision, Beijing is promoting its stance through international seminars and videos on social media platform hoping to win the support of international experts and the public, the Global Times report said. The People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) has released a series of 10 English- language videos on YouTube on July 1, in which scholars and political personnel from Singapore, Malaysia and China voiced opinions on the SCS issue that are similar to the Chinese government’s stance. “Compared to traditional media channels, new media has larger (readership) and the platforms are open to the public, so the government can hear different voices,” Zhang Zhi’an, vice president of the School of Communication and Design at Sun Yat-sen University told the daily.
The US and the Philippines currently dominate the public discourse on the SCS issue, and the Philippines intends to use the media to label China as a state that “does not obey international law,” he said.
