The award delivered Tuesday by the arbitral tribunal on South China Sea set up upon unilateral request from the Philippines was "not correct," an Austrian International law expert has said.
It "will not contribute to the peaceful settlement but on the contrary will increase the tensions," Gerd Kaminski, professor of international law at Vienna University and also director of Austrian Institute for China and Southeast Asia studies, told Xinhua in an interview.
The professor, who is also a senior policy advisor of Austrian foreign ministry, said he believes that in terms of the international law, historical evidences and regional harmony, the tribunal's award is negative.
The government of former Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III filed the arbitration against China in 2013, despite the agreement his country had reached with China on resolving their disputes in the South China Sea through bilateral negotiations.
The tribunal issued its final award on Tuesday, sweepingly siding with Manila's cunningly packaged claims, denying China's long-standing historical rights in the South China Sea and saying China has no sovereign right on some atolls in the region.
"It's not in line with former verdicts and former cases," Kaminski said, citing some former arbitration cases as examples.
Kaminski told Xinhua that the Eastern Greenland Case between Norway and Denmark showed that people don't need to settle down permanently for acquiring the island, and that fishing and observing and building landmarks is enough for the sovereignty.
China has owned the islands in South China Sea since ancient times and many activities were made on these islands like fishing and exploiting. Chinese people also started to live on the islands long time ago.
Regarding Philippines' argument that some islands in the south China sea is near the country, he said previous arbitration case showed the distance of the island from the country claims it is not important criterion.
"From the international law arguments, also from historic arguments from both sides Chinese side, European side, I think we can prove that China is the owner of those islands (in South China sea)," he said.
He told Xinhua that he read the letters from the western priests who lived in China in 17th and 18th centuries, telling the truth that the islands in south China sea belong to China.
"There are records by those priests when they set out to other territories in south east Asia, they wrote down they were passing the Chinses islands, so also from these European records, and the map from the 18th century drawn by priests that the east Chinese sea and South China sea are Chinese territory," Kaminski noted.
The Austrian expert said items found on the islands in the south China sea proves that the islands were inhabited by Chinese, and according to the international law, it's not necessary to be permanently inhabitant.
He stressed that after the World War II, islands in south China sea were returned back to China, and Chinese government at that time sent marine expeditions to the region, which further confirmed the Chinese rights over these islands.
He was concerned that the award could make region more complicated. Enditem
