While China wants to settle the issue in the South China Sea in a peaceful manner, it has reaffirmed that it cannot accept the "unfair conclusion" of the arbitral ruling over the sea dispute that favored the Philippines in 2016.
Vice Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of China’s 13th National People’s Congress Fu Ying reiterated this during the 5th Manila Forum for China-Philippines Relations on Monday, Jan. 18.
Fu, who also served as China's vice foreign minister and former ambassador to the Philippines, explained that China's decision over the long-standing sea dispute is to respect the pending border disputes with many developing countries and try to find peaceful solutions as they understand that "countries in dispute with China are friendly neighbors."
"But China cannot accept the South China Sea Arbitration because it’s not fair," the Chinese foreign affairs official said.
"The Law of the Sea did not give countries the right to decide the territory. The Law of the Sea is about maritime rights. The Law of the Sea does not give any country the power or the right to impose on others. So, China does not want to accept the unfair conclusion of the arbitration," she added.
The seasoned diplomat, who also became China's ambassador to Australia and the United Kingdom, stressed that the downs in the Philippine-China relations "were mostly caused by the differences and disputes concerning the islands and shores in the South China Sea," which she tagged as a "difficult issue."
With China's history of "many outstanding, unresolved border and territory disputes," she said China never renounced its sovereign rights and its interests.
"And it cannot renounce it now. Its position is unshakable," she said.
"However, we are determined to resort to peaceful means, and we trust that we should be able to manage the differences with our neighbors, especially with the Philippines, which is an understanding and friendly country," Fu further said.
Fu echoed State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi's statement on the issue, saying that "China will join hands with the Philippines to properly handle the South China Sea issue."
Wang stressed during the forum the importance of putting the issue in a "proper place" to prevent it from "affecting or even taking hostage the overall bilateral relationship."