As the UN-backed tribunal struck down China’s claims over almost all of the South China Sea, China on Tuesday directed its ire against the US, accusing America and its Asia Pacific Pivot policy for stirring trouble to blunt Beijing’s rise.
“Before the implementation of the so-called rebalance to Asia Pacific by the US, the South China Sea (SCS) is very tranquil and peaceful. Then comes the Americans and their policy of rebalance to Asia and since then things have changed,” Foreign Ministry spokesman lu Kang told reporters. Before the rebalance was implemented there were disputes between the relevant parties in the SCS but they properly managed and maintained peaceful situation.
“No matter how the US argues, they cannot deny that things changed after the implementation of the Asia rebalance policy,” he said. In a case brought by the Philippines, the Hague-based tribunal appointed by the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled “there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line’”, which is based on a Chinese map dating back to the 1940s. “The US poses itself as guardian of the maritime rule of law but refuses to approve the UN Convention on law of Seas, (UNClOS) 34 years after it was reached,” lu said.