Defying the world

China is fighting a lonely battle.

It is alone in defending its sovereignty claim on the South China Sea, a strategically vital waterway where about 60 percent of global seaborne trade passes annually.

Controlling this sea lane of communications affects China’s territorial integrity and has significant implications on global trade and geopolitical balance.

No country outside China has supported its historical nine-dash claim, which was repudiated by the 2016 landmark legal ruling by an arbitration tribunal in The Hague.

In defending China’s position on the arbitral ruling, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman, Lin Jian, accused Manila of falling into the trap of Western states to “become a tool to build a small circle of anti-China, China-suppressing states.”

Lin also described the arbitration case as “essentially a political farce in legal garb.”

On the other hand, a “chorus of nations” consistently lends their voices to call on China to abide by the arbitral ruling, providing reassuring global support for the rule of law in international relations.

On the 8th anniversary of the arbitral ruling on July 12, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, and the United States once again demanded that China stop its coercive actions on smaller states in the disputed waters.

Before the arbitral ruling, the Philippines was alone in defending its sovereign rights in its maritime zones as the other claimant states tried to resolve their maritime dispute with China bilaterally.

Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam were negotiating on a weak position against China as Beijing played divide-and-rule tactics.

Even the United States was unwilling to give its 100 percent support to its former colony and long-time ally in the region, hanging on to its ambiguous policy in the South China Sea.

For the longest time, Washington said it would come to the defense of Manila if there’s an external attack on its vessels, aircraft, and personnel within the “metropolitan area” of the Philippines.

It does not want to be dragged into a conflict with Chima, which it regarded as an important economic partner.

That policy changed when the United States saw China as a rival, a fierce competitor that could affect its global dominance in trade and security.

It was further reinforced when Manila won overwhelmingly in its arbitration case against Beijing.

The Philippines filed a case against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2013 after China started harassing an oil-and-gas company exploring energy resources in the Reed Bank in 2011.

A year later, it denied Filipino fishermen access to the lagoon at Bajo de Masinloc after China gained control of the strategic rocky outcrop 125 miles west of Zambales after a three-month standoff.

China has also completed island-building in the Spratlys and deployed hundreds of militia vessels to blockade Philippine vessels bringing humanitarian supplies to Manila’s occupied features in the South China Sea.

In 2016, The Hague ruled that China violated the Philippines’ maritime zones, particularly its 200 nautical miles of exclusive economic zones, by claiming almost the entire waterway.

The arbitral court declared China’s claim illegal and expansive, nullifying the nine-dash-line claim.

However, China refused to honor the ruling, insisting on its historical claim to claim ownership of the South China Sea.

It also chose to disregard the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the very foundation of Manila’s sovereign claim.

China was among the signatories of Unclos and ratified the treaty in 1996, which means it should renounce its historical claim on the South China Sea because it is not consistent with the international laws governing maritime zones.

Ayungin Shoal, for instance, is more than 600 miles from Hainan’s coast, three times the limits of its exclusive economic zones.

It was unthinkable that China chose to insist on its historical claim, refusing to honor international laws.

China has become a victim of its propaganda. It could no longer walk back on preaching to its population that it owns almost the entire South China Sea.

It was easy for China to give up large areas of its territory on its northern border with Russia because the dispute with its northern neighbor was not as emotional as in the South China Sea.

Moreover, China has so much pride in refusing to retreat from its territorial claims and favoring four smaller Southeast Asia states.

There is, however, one reason why China refuses to give up on its South China Sea claim — the waterway has become a buffer zone to push away the United States and its Western allies, including Japan, from its shorelines.

The South China Sea forms part of China’s first island chain of defense.

Thus, it was stuck to its nine-dash-line even if no other country supported the claim. It cannot compromise its national security interests.

However, the only way tension in the South China Sea can ease is for Beijing to work closely to resolve the maritime dispute.

Diplomacy and peaceful negotiations are the only way to defuse tension and keep peace and stability in the region.

China must learn from member-states of the Association of South East Asian (ASEAN) on how to prevent and manage the maritime dispute.

Beijing should also realize it is becoming a pariah state for rejecting the 2016 arbitral ruling.

The maritime dispute cannot be resolved by the use of force or by the threat to use force.

The dispute will be resolved if Beijing accepts the 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling and respects Unclos.

As a responsible member of the international community, Beijing must listen to the growing number of states worldwide calling on China to abandon its nine-dash-line policy.