appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Alyssa Chen

Beijing has cast US-led military deployments as the “primary threat” to peace in the South China Sea, hitting back at a multinational declaration that marked the 10th anniversary of an arbitral ruling it does not recognise.
In a strongly worded statement on Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asserted China’s “historic rights” while condemning “militarising and coercive behaviour” from the US and its allies as the “foremost challenge currently facing the South China Sea”.
“It is the continuous military deployments, reckless manoeuvres, and instigations by external powers like the United States that constitute the primary threat to regional stability,” the statement said.
“China will take decisive measures to defend its rights and interests in a reasonable, lawful, professional and restrained manner in response to infringements and provocations by relevant countries.”
Beijing also traded barbs with Tokyo over the matter in a separate statement, after a Japanese minister criticised its stance on the ruling. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi released a statement saying China’s refusal to accept the 2016 decision is “against the principle of peaceful settlement of disputes”, prompting Beijing to summon a senior official of the Japanese Embassy to protest.
Earlier on Sunday, a 14-nation coalition led by the United States and the Philippines issued a joint statement reaffirming their “unwavering commitment” to a rules-based, free and open Indo-Pacific, marking a decade since an international tribunal at The Hague invalidated most of Beijing’s South China Sea claims.
Other signatories to the statement included US allies such as Japan, Australia and Britain.


Beijing’s sweeping claims of sovereignty over nearly all islands and rock features in the South China Sea and rights to their adjacent waters have locked it into long-standing disputes with rival claimants, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
In 2013, Manila took the unprecedented step of launching an arbitration case under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). The tribunal at The Hague ultimately ruled on July 12, 2016, that although it could not rule on questions of sovereignty, Beijing’s claims to historical and economic rights over most of the features in the South China Sea were invalid.
Beijing refused to recognise the tribunal’s authority to hear the case and has rejected the ruling. It has also said it would not implement its findings.
Sunday’s 14-nation statement described the 2016 award decision as a “significant milestone” that was “final, legally binding, and definitive”. It added there was no legal basis for Beijing’s sweeping maritime claims, including those based on historic rights.
“We reaffirm our strong opposition to the use of coastguard, military and maritime militia forces to harass, obstruct, or intimidate lawful operations by other states at sea or in the air, and in so doing endanger the safety of personnel and fishermen and seriously degrade regional peace and security,” the statement said.




The Chinese foreign ministry described the waterway as one of “the safest maritime corridors in the world”, where freedom of navigation and overflight had never encountered any issues.
The 2016 ruling has only worsened geopolitical friction rather than settling it, according to the ministry.
The arbitration had failed to resolve the maritime dispute and instead become a “stumbling block” for China-Philippines relations and regional stability, it cautioned.
“If the standards set by this ruling were to be applied globally, many nations would lose the legal basis for claiming maritime rights around their own islands and reefs. We must ask: have those individual states that champion the award voluntarily surrendered the maritime entitlements of their own corresponding features?”
In a separate statement on Sunday, the ministry accused Tokyo of repeatedly “attempting to interfere” in the South China Sea. The rebuke followed remarks by the Japanese foreign minister that Beijing’s rejection of the arbitration award undermined the international rule of law.


“For some time, Japan has steadily intensified its collusion with the Philippines, exporting weapons and military equipment to Manila. Tokyo has repeatedly dispatched military forces abroad and test-fired offensive missiles – actions that far exceed the scope of ‘self-defence’,” the Chinese statement said.
Japan and the Philippines are both US treaty allies. The US currently has nine military bases in the Philippines while Japan has emerged as a strategically significant partner for Manila.
Building upon a reciprocal access agreement for joint military exercises, Manila and Tokyo are negotiating an intelligence-sharing pact and the potential transfer of up to five Japanese Abukuma-class destroyer escorts to the Philippine Navy.
The Chinese foreign ministry’s sharp rhetoric was mirrored by Beijing’s top diplomat in Manila. In an article published in People’s Daily on Sunday, Jing Quan, China’s ambassador to the Philippines, said clearing the arbitration’s “lingering toxic legacy” was a matter of utmost urgency.
“The most important task for Manila today is to … abandon illusions and remove this stumbling block to allow bilateral relations to return to the right track,” Jing wrote in the Communist Party mouthpiece.
“The South China Sea arbitration was a thoroughly illegal affair from start to finish.”
China stepped up its campaign against the ruling in the run-up to the anniversary, with a series of articles in the People’s Daily and reports from a Ministry of Natural Resources think tank, including one about Unclos warning of “abusive practices”.
Jing said the 2016 decision had created immense hurdles for managing disputes and improving ties with the Philippines.


“It has become a painful ‘thorn’ embedded deeply between China and the Philippines, and a convenient pretext for extra-regional forces to interfere in regional affairs,” he wrote.
Jing argued that the dispute was fundamentally about territorial sovereignty over maritime features – something that lay outside the scope of Unclos.
He also said Beijing had excluded itself from the convention’s compulsory dispute resolution mechanisms via a formal declaration in 2006, something allowed under Article 298.
However, the convention also stipulates that if two nations fail to resolve a maritime dispute through negotiation, one party can unilaterally take the other before an international judicial body or tribunal.
Jing warned that further “infringements and provocations” by Manila would meet a firm response from China to protect its rights.
“China’s decision not to accept, participate in or recognise the arbitration and its award is a stance not only to defend our own sovereignty and interests, but also to uphold the authority and dignity of international law.”

Sunday’s anniversary follows three years of escalating tensions between China and the Philippines, marked by a string of maritime confrontations in the disputed waters.
Since becoming president in 2022, Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has reversed the policy of his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, who downplayed the South China Sea dispute to secure better relations with Beijing.
The Marcos administration has an “assertive transparency” policy of publishing footage of confrontations, including collisions between ships and China’s use of water cannons, to expose what it describes as aggressive tactics from Beijing.


Paraguay’s president urges UN to let Taiwan in, calls island’s exclusion ‘a stain’

Why younger Filipinos are warming to China despite maritime tensions

Why Brunei prefers ‘quiet diplomacy’ over confrontation in South China Sea

Xi and Trump face their greatest challenge yet: building US-China trust

South China Sea

Beijing hits out as US-led coalition marks 10th anniversary of South China Sea ruling

Rival claimant the Philippines has adopted a policy of publicising confrontations and highlighting China’s use of water cannons. Photo: AP

Jing Quan says the ruling was designed to deny China its maritime rights. Photo: Handout

People’s Daily joins Beijing blitz against Philippines over 2016 South China Sea ruling

A China Coast Guard crew member observes Philippine vessels in the disputed South China Sea. Photo: Handout via Xinhua

Beijing slams Manila over South China Sea claims ahead of 2016 Hague anniversary

Ships identified by the Philippine Coast Guard as Chinese research vessels are seen at Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on June 15. Photo: AFP

Philippines unpicks Asean’s South China Sea ‘sovereignty deadlock’

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr (centre) leads a wreath-laying ceremony to mark the Philippines’ Independence Day on Friday. Photo: EPA

A Chinese coastguard vessel patrols near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea in April. Photo: Xinhua

Asean leaders pose for a group photo during the opening ceremony of the 48th Asean summit in Cebu, the Philippines, on May 8. Photo: Xinhua

A Chinese coastguard vessel patrols last month near Scarborough Shoal, a disputed atoll located about 220km from the Philippines’ main island of Luzon. Photo: Xinhua

News

China

Diplomacy

Navigating the South China Sea dispute, 10 years after Hague ruling

Wu Shicun on why Beijing will not rule out Scarborough Shoal construction

Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

Chinese coastguards have used water cannons against Philippine ships. Photo: Philippine Coast Guard via AP

Anti-China protesters wave Vietnamese flags and shout slogans in front of the Chinese embassy during a rally in Hanoi in 2014. Photo: AFP

Satellite imagery from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellites shows sand dredging activity at Antelope Reef. Photo: European Union

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has signalled a desire to restart cooperation with China. Photo: EPA-EFE

Japan’s ‘destructive potential’ in South China Sea may eclipse the US: analyst

Japanese troops take part in Balikatan, the annual joint military exercises between the United States and the Philippines. Photo: Reuters

Japan fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during the Balikatan exercises. Photo: Reuters

Is China’s massive island-building push at Antelope Reef nearing the finish line?

New satellite images show China has built a long, reinforced quay on Antelope Reef’s lagoon. Photo: EU

Blue cylindrical storage silos have appeared at what looks like a concrete production plant on Antelope Reef, suggesting that construction may be moving into the heavy infrastructure phase. Photo: Open Source Centre

Will Manila and Hanoi’s maritime deal challenge Beijing in the South China Sea?

 Illustration: Henry Wong

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr (right) and Vietnamese President To Lam meet at Malacanang presidential palace in Manila on June 1. Photo: Reuters

How Beijing proposes to solve South China Sea disputes 10 years after Hague ruling

A China Coast Guard ship sails near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on June 18. Photo: Kyodo


US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth (right) confers with Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr during a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Kuala Lumpur on November 1, 2025. Photo: EPA

How Beijing’s islands of control are reshaping the South China Sea

Tree Island, also known as Zhaoshu, is the furthest point from mainland China that Chinese civilians can visit in the South China Sea. Photo: Laura Zhou

Chinese tourists attend a flag-raising ceremony at Tree Island on June 27. Photo: Laura Zhou

Residential buildings on Tree Island, where some 200 Hainan fishermen have been provided with government housing. Photo: Xinhua

With its network of infrastructure across the South China Sea on locations like Tree Island, Beijing now has considerable geopolitical leverage in the region, analysts say. Photo: Laura Zhou

A Chinese-built airstrip and sprawling facilities on Fiery Cross Reef highlight how artificial islands have transformed Beijing’s strategic reach in the South China Sea. Photo: People’s Daily

New housing, sports facilities and radar installations on Tree Island reflect how China is embedding civilian and strategic infrastructure on its remote South China Sea outposts. Photo: Sansha Satellite TV via CGTN

US-led moves ‘primary threat’ to peace, China says in fiery statement asserting ‘historic rights’ to contested waters


US-led moves ‘primary threat’ to peace, China says in fiery statement asserting ‘historic rights’ to contested waters.


Beijing hits out as US-led coalition marks 10th anniversary of South China Sea ruling

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}US-led moves ‘primary threat’ to peace, China says in fiery statement asserting ‘historic rights’ to contested waters

US-led moves ‘primary threat’ to peace, China says in fiery statement asserting ‘historic rights’ to contested waters