Ray of hope in US-made mire

An aerial photo taken on Sept. 25, 2015 from a seaplane of Hainan Maritime Safety Administration shows cruise vessel Haixun 1103 heading to the Yacheng 13-1 drilling rig during a patrol in south China Sea. [Photo/Xinhua]

In a recent clarification to domestic and foreign media on its stance on the case submitted by the Philippines to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on its territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea, China's Foreign Ministry emphasized that the court has no power of jurisdiction over what is fundamentally a sovereignty case and its ruling has no legal force.

China News Weekly and National Interest recently published a co-signed article by Fu Ying, a senior official in China's top legislature, and Wu Shicun, an expert on South China Sea studies, which pointed out the various provocative moves made by the United States under the pretext of stopping "China's expansion" have only spurred China's stronger determination to safeguard its national interests.

While the US with its ingrained "exceptionalism" defies the constraints of international rules, it demands other countries accept these rules. China will naturally not accept such a double standard.

Under the universally recognized "sovereignty exclusion" principle, China has the right to refuse the Hague court's arbitration. As a matter of fact, no country in Southeast Asia has sought international arbitration for the settlement of its maritime disputes with regional countries. The Philippines has elaborately disguised its territorial dispute with China as a dispute on maritime rights and entitlements under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in an attempt to bypass the "sovereignty issue".

Despite the ray of hope offered by a change of Philippine president, whether or not Rodrigo Duterte will be able to extricate his country from the influence of the US when he takes office remains to be seen.

Particularly, how to tackle the South China Sea dispute from a Philippine perspective rather than from the perspective of coordinating with the US' "rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific" strategy will put the political wisdom and capability of the new Philippine leader to the test.

--Overseas edition of People's Daily