At the seminar, many experts have opposed efforts by the U.S., which is not a direct party involved in the South China Sea issue, to support the Philippines in the region to achieve its foreign policy goals of of realizing a strategic re-balance in the Asia-Pacific region, by containing China.
"The United States should not get involved because it is not a direct stakeholder of this issue. I suggest that this is a issue for the countries in the regions to seek solution through negotiation," said Tom Zwart, a School of Law professor at the Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
Zwart said he didn't mean to take sides in the dispute but he insisted that the United States should not use the rule of international law to serve its foreign policy agenda, because in recent years the country had returned to the Asia-Pacific region to boost its strategic presence.
"Instead, I believe the best way is to go back to negotiation table in an Asian way," said Zwart, who worked as senior counsel to the Dutch deputy prime minister.
He said that from historic perspectives, China and the Asian countries had for centuries been sorting out their differences in a way which was mutually agreeable, and that they would still be able to for centuries more.
"Regarding to the complexity of this dispute, with so many parties and interests .involved, you could not deal with it within a framework of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), because treaty does not offer procedures to solve the problem," Zwart said. "So China and its neighbors must sit down to discuss the solutions by themselves."
Sreenivasa Rao Pemmaraju is a famous international lawyer who has served as chief legal adviser in India's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He says China has a lot of evidence to indicate its ownership of the islands and reefs in the South China Sea.
"I am very glad that Chinese experts have brought so much ancient evidences and materials to show its ownership and jurisdiction of the South China Sea at the seminar, which will help people know more about what the case is about," said Pemmaraju, who is also chair of the UN International Law Commission. "There should be nothing shy of this."
But he said the problem was that some documents were in Chinese and it took more time for people like him to know more about the truth behind it.
"This is the beginning of dialogue and this will help the Philippines understand the reasons behind China's stances on the dispute," Pemmaraju said. "The eventually, the case will be sort it out as the related parties know more the origins."
He has called for more confidence and trust building among the Asian communities because historically, the countries had been colonies of the West. "And now we are developing countries and we have many poor people in China, India and the Philippines," he said. "We have to show our sympathy to each other. We have long way to go and we must save energy and focus on development."
Pemmaraju said China now had played a big and responsible role in the world. "China has not brought trouble to anybody else and China has great stake in peace," he said.
