Interview: Arbitration should not be politically used: Chinese envoy

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is one of the best treaties in the world, but should not be politically used by countries to grab "illegal rights and interests", a top Chinese envoy has said.

Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Yi Xianliang told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview that if the arbitral tribunal and UNCLOS were used by some countries in this way, the framework of the UNCLOS would be destroyed.

This, he said, is a dangerous trend, posing a critical challenge to the UNCLOS.

China maintains the respect for countries along the South China Sea and without stability in the waters, the development achievements of China and its neighbors would not have been realized, said the Chinese diplomat.

"Attempts have been made by countries outside the region to stir up the South China Sea issue, which causes troubles for China and other coastal states of the South China Sea," said the ambassador.

"Some specific state lost its way and fell into the trap," Yi said.

He emphasized that peace and stability have prevailed in the waters over the past decades and there has never been any incident affecting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

The envoy said upholding peace, stability and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea is crucial to China's security and interests in the South China Sea.

"China will not make any trouble itself in the South China Sea and will not allow any other country to cause disturbances either," said the envoy.

"Certain countries outside the region, coming from thousands of miles away, tried every means to make troubles in the South China Sea, politicized the South China Sea issue and undermined the stability of the South China Sea, so as to cause disturbances and seek geopolitical influence.

"These were the root causes of the rising of the issue. I believe that people are able to come to a fair conclusion.

"Territory disputes may not be resolved within a limited short of period, It needs time and patience, not only for China, but also for other claimants which have illegally occupied some of China's Nansha Islands and reefs."

Yi said the maritime delimitation is another key issue.

When the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was signed in 1982, some experts believed that maritime delimitation would have rules to follow and disputes would be solved.

However, unilateral interpretation of the UNCLOS and claims for rights and interests have resulted in more disputes, he said.

"Even between Sri Lanka and India, which have completed maritime delimitation, there are still fishery disputes."

The ambassador said the UNCLOS is not a "constitution" to address all maritime issues.

"In practice, many maritime disputes were not resolved by the UNCLOS."

Yi said among hundreds of disputes over maritime delimitation, only a small number have been resolved, and a majority of the resolved disputes were done through negotiations and consultations.

He said the basic solution to the South China Sea issue relies on the political willingness and patience.

Resolving disputes, he said, requires them to manage and narrow differences through cooperation.

"This is a matter involving claimant countries only. However, some forces outside the region repeatedly interfere in the South China Sea issue and became more and more aggressive, which were the key factors affecting and disrupting regional peace and stability.

"If things go on like this, all of the coastal states of the South China Sea would become victims without exception."

The ambassador said fishermen of coastal states have lived in harmony and shared the resources.

As for oil and gas resources, Yi said, the disputes have not arisen until modern times.

"The Chinese side initiated the suggestion of joint development in the 1980s. We negotiated with coastal states of the South China Sea including Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei on the joint development. China will be committed to promoting such cooperation."

Regarding maritime cooperation in "low sensitivity areas", including ecological environment protection, pollution prevention, disaster prevention, rescue and combating piracy, said the ambassador, China has devoted huge human and financial resources bilaterally and through the China-ASEAN mechanism to promote such cooperation.

"But some countries were quite uncooperative and even resistant to cooperate."

Yi said the international community have formulated a vast amount of treaties and rules requiring coastal states to strengthen cooperation, which is an obligation for coastal states.

Certain country disregarded the obligations and assumed the posture of "the blind opposition to anything related to China" and "no negotiation on the South China Sea issue", said the Chinese envoy.

"Turning away all the cooperation proposals, while illegally and unilaterally initiated the so-called arbitration to resolve disputes, it is really beyond comprehension," he said. Endit