July 12, 2021

On July 12, 2016, under the manipulation of the US, the arbitral tribunal on the South China Sea arbitration case issued an "arbitral award" at the request of the Aquino III government of the Philippines. This staged a farce that shocked the world by sweepingly denying China's claims in the South China Sea. 

In the past five years, the tribunal has already been dissolved and the Aquino III government has been out of power for years. With the passage of time, the international community has come to recognize the essence of this travesty. It was a clumsily staged political show by the Aquino III government, rather than a search for peace in the South China Sea. It offered a preconceived conclusion out of the tribunal's political paranoia rather than a professional ruling based on facts and law. It was a desecration of international law and rules by the US and some other Western countries, rather than a demonstration of international reverence. It was not a pursuit of justice and fairness. 

The past five years have witnessed a fundamental shift from chaos to stability in the South China Sea thanks to the joint efforts of China and other countries in the region. The Chinese government's position on the arbitration is clear, "not accept, not participate, and not recognize." This has come to be widely recognized and accepted by the international community. The "arbitral award" deemed by China as "a piece of scrap paper" has long been thrown into the dustbin of history.

Read more:

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202107/1228468.shtml