THE South China Sea Islands have been China’s territory since ancient times. The Chinese people were the first to discover, name and develop these islands. It was the Chinese government that first exercised sovereignty over them, a practice that has been continued in a peaceful and effective manner without interruption. In 1939, Japan invaded and illegally occupied the Xisha Islands and Nansha Islands during the war of aggression against China. After World War II, in accordance with the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, the territories Japan had stolen, including Taiwan and the Penghu Islands, Xisha Islands and Nansha Islands, China reaffirmed sovereignty and strengthened jurisdiction by compiling their official names, publishing maps, setting up administrative units and stationing troops. Before the 1970s, it was widely recognised by the international community that the South China Sea Islands belong to China and no country ever challenged this.

In 1968, a survey conducted by an affiliate of the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East indicated rich oil and gal reserves in the South China Sea. Starting from the 1970s, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia began to invade and illegally occupy China’s Nansha islands and reefs. This is the root cause of the South China Sea issue.
The crux of China-Philippines disputes in the South China Sea is the territorial dispute caused by the Philippines’ invasion and illegal occupation of some islands and reefs of China’s Nansha Islands since the 1970s in violation of the UN Charter and the basic norms governing state-to-state relations. With the evolution of the new system of the law of the sea, there have also arisen the disputes on maritime delimitation.
By taking advantage of some provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea(UNCLOS), the Philippines unilaterally initiated the arbitration in January 2013 in an attempt to deny China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests and to cover up its invasion and illegal occupation of some islands and reefs of China’s Nansha Islands. This violates its agreement with China enshrined in bilateral documents and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea(DOC) on resolving disputes through negotiations and consultations. It also violates the provisions of UNCLOS, abused its dispute settlement procedures and infringed upon China’s rights under UNCLOS to independently choose dispute settlement mechanisms and procedures. The arbitration is thus illegal and null and void. The Chinese government does not accept or participate in it, and will never recognise the so-called “award.”
China is a victim on the South China Sea issue. Nonetheless, in order to uphold regional peace and stability, the Chinese side has all along exercised great restraint, handled the South China Sea issue in a responsible and constructive manner and committed itself to resolving the relevant disputes through negotiations and consultations, to managing the disputes by establishing rules and mechanisms, to seeking win-win outcomes through joint development and cooperation, and to upholding freedom of navigation and overflight, as well as peace and stability in the South China Sea.
China supports and advocates the “dual track” approach initiated by ASEAN member states to handle the South China Sea issue, i.e. while the relevant disputes are to be resolved through negotiations and consultations between the states directly concerned on the basis of respecting historical facts and according to international law. China and ASEAN member states will work together to maintain peace and stability in the South China sea.
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
Georgetown