China urges outsiders not to muddy regional waters

China has urged non-regional countries led by the United States to genuinely respect regional countries' efforts in maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea, refrain from statements and actions that disrupt regional peace and stability, and stop being a trouble maker.

The remarks came following statements issued by the U.S. and the European Union on the so-called eighth anniversary of an illegal and void "arbitration award" on the South China Sea that has no binding force.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Friday that the positions and claims of the U.S., the EU and others disregard the history and facts on the South China Sea issue, act against the United Nations Charter, and misinterpret the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, and other international law.

"Their position and proposition do not hold water," Lin told reporters at a regular news briefing in Beijing.

The spokesman said that the U.S., which refuses to accede to UNCLOS, now for its own selfish interests is lecturing other countries on how to implement the treaty.

"This is hypocrisy, double standard and selective application of international law," he said.

In addition, the U.S. has gone back on its public commitment of not taking a position on sovereignty issues in the South China Sea by encouraging the Philippines to unilaterally launch the arbitration on the South China Sea in 2013, and blatantly released a statement to endorse the "award", Lin said.

"This is political manipulation aimed at using allies to destabilize the South China Sea and the region and advance the nefarious agenda of going after China," he said.

Noting that the South China Sea arbitration is essentially a political circus dressed up as legal action, Lin said the Philippines let itself fall into the trap set by the U.S. and some Western countries and had become certain countries' tool to gang up on China—all at the cost of the Philippines' relations with China.

Lin said that the Philippines views the "arbitral award" and UNCLOS as the two cornerstones of its policy and action in the South China Sea, yet the "award" is very much a deviation from UNCLOS.

"This means the Philippines has adopted a self-contradictory position," he said.

To cling to this position and the "arbitral award" will only get the Philippines farther and farther away from the right path, Lin said.

The spokesman said that for a long period of time, China has been committed to resolving relevant disputes with the Philippines through direct negotiation and friendly consultation on the basis of respecting historical facts and international law.

"We hope the Philippine side will honor its commitments, stop citing and hyping up the illegal "award' and get back onto the right track of bilateral negotiation for the disputes at an early date," he said.