A Chinese spokesperson on Friday rebuked U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken's remarks on the impending "arbitration" of the South China Sea issue, saying the United States is in no position to criticize China.
On Thursday, Blinken told a House of Representatives hearing in Washington that China "can't have it both ways," by being a party to the convention but rejecting its provisions, including "the binding nature of any arbitration decision."
He was referring to a case brought by the Philippines to initiate compulsory arbitration proceedings with respect to "maritime jurisdiction" in the South China Sea.
"Regretfully, I have to say that Mr. Blinken may be misinformed about the essence of the South China Sea disputes and the content of the the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, or he was wrongly labeling China deliberately," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a daily news briefing.
China has repeatedly reiterated that it will neither accept nor participate in the arbitration initiated by the Philippines.
Hua said on Friday that the South China Sea issue is about territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation, adding that the Philippines was denying China's territorial sovereignty over some islands and reefs and maritime rights in the South China Sea.
In 2006, China filed a declaration, in accordance with the convention, to exclude disputes concerning maritime delimitation from compulsory arbitration and other compulsory dispute-settlement procedures. More than 30 countries have filed declarations of this kind.
Such declarations are an integral part of the convention's dispute-settlement procedures, and have a binding effect on all signatories.
"Therefore, those so-called appeals of the Philippines do not classify as disputes that can be brought for compulsory arbitration, and the establishment of the tribunal [at the request of the Philippines] itself is groundless," Hua said.
China's decision to neither accept nor participate in the arbitration upholds the seriousness of the convention and other international laws and its opposition of any misuse of them, said the spokesperson.
Hua noted that the United States has not signed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
In 1979, the United States established the Freedom of Navigation program before the signing of the convention in an attempt to dominate maritime order beyond the convention, Hua said, adding that it reflected the United States' "logic of hegemony" in its treatment of international law, which it uses when convenient and abandons on unfavorable conditions.
"On this issue, the United States is not entitled to point fingers at China," she added.
