Beijing: The international tribunal's ruling against China in its dispute with Philippines related to the South China Sea has not gone well with the Beijing leadership and even with its media. A state-run Chinese newspaper has now claimed that India supports its stand on the South China Sea dispute.
The newspaper said that India is among the other nations which have supported the country's stand on the issue and favours resolution through consultations and negotiations by states directly concerned.
State-run China Daily showed a world map in its website showing India among the countries supporting China's stand.
"More than 70 countries have publicly voiced support for China's position that South China Sea disputes should be resolved through negotiations and not arbitration. In contrast, just several countries, mainly the United States and its close allies, have publicly supported the Philippines and called for observing the ruling as legally binding," according to the text displayed above the map.
Within hours of the tribunal's ruling on Monday, India's External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi asked all parties involved in the South China Sea row to resolve the maritime dispute through peaceful means without threat or use of force and "show utmost respect" to the verdict by Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
India's reaction came after the tribunal ruled that China has no legal basis to its claims of "historic rights" to islands in South China Sea, through which $3 trillion passes in trade annually.
China asserts sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea waters in the face of rival claims from its southeast Asian neighbours.
Meanwhile, the Chinese leadership has turned down the United States advise to follow India's example of settling its maritime row with Bangladesh by implementing the judgement saying that there is "no comparison" between the two cases.
"There is a premise for the settlement of the relevant territorial dispute between India and Bangladesh through arbitration, that is, the two respected each other's sovereign wills and reached an agreement on the arbitration request through consultation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said here on Wednesday.
"It is not like imposing one party's will on the other" unlike the Philippines which "unilaterally" filed the petition in Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), he said.
India accepted the award which was given in favour of Bangladesh to resolve the over 40-year maritime row. The tribunal awarded Bangladesh 19,467 sq km of area in Bay Bengal in 2014.
"To India's great credit, it accepted the decision and has abided by it, noting at the time that settlement of the issue would enhance mutual understanding and goodwill between the two countries. This is an example we would encourage China to follow," US Assistant Secretary of Defence for East Asia Abraham Denmark told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing in Washington last week.
"The arbitral tribunal's upcoming ruling will present an opportunity for those in the region to determine whether the Asia-Pacific's future will be defined by adherence to international laws and norms that have helped keep the peace and enabled it to prosper, or whether the region's future will be determined by raw calculations of power," Denmark said.
China, however, emphatically rejected the verdict questioning the legality of the tribunal. Lu said previous Philippines President Benigno S Aquino unilaterally opted for arbitration and "imposed" it on China.
"By doing that the Aquino administration severely violated the agreement between China and Philippines and the consensus in the region, breached relevant provisions under UN Convention on Law of Seas (UNCLOS), infringed upon China's right as a sovereign state and state party to UNCLOS to resolve disputes by means of its own choice and went against international law," he said.
"Therefore there is no comparison between the two things," he added.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea but its claims are fiercely contested by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
With Agency Inputs
