Guo Weimin:

Ladies, gentlemen and friends from the media: Good morning! Welcome to today's press conference.

On July 12, the arbitral tribunal announced its ruling on the South China Sea arbitration established at the unilateral request of the Philippines. Chinese leaders have said China will not accept any proposition or action based on the decision. The Chinese government published a statement to reaffirm China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement on the ruling, solemnly declaring that the award is null and void and has no binding force, and that China neither accepts nor recognizes it. Chinese government's stance has won wide support both from home and abroad.

Today, the State Council Information Office (SCIO) published a white paper titled "China Adheres to the Position of Settling through Negotiation the Relevant Disputes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea," which thoroughly elaborates Chinese government's stance and policy on the South China Sea dispute. Here, we have invited Mr. Liu Zhenmin, vice foreign minister, to elaborate on the white paper and answer your questions.

First of all, please allow me to give you a brief introduction about the white paper. The white paper, entitled "China Adheres to the Position of Settling through Negotiation the Relevant Disputes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea," consists of five parts.

The first part talks about Nanhai Zhudao as China's inherent territory. China's sovereignty over Nanhai Zhudao has been established in the course of history. China has always been resolute in upholding its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea. China's sovereignty over Nanhai Zhudao is widely acknowledged in the international community.

The second part is about the origin of the relevant disputes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. The Philippines' invasion and illegal occupation caused disputes with China over some islands and reefs of Nansha Qundao. The Philippines' illegal claim has no historical or legal basis. The development of international maritime law gave rise to the disputes between China and the Philippines over maritime delimitation.

The third part covers the consensus reached by China and the Philippines on settling their relevant disputes in the South China Sea. It is the consensus and commitment of China and the Philippines to settle their relevant disputes in the South China Sea through negotiation. It is the consensus of China and the Philippines to properly manage relevant disputes in the South China Sea.

The fourth part talks about the moves taken by the Philippines that complicate the relevant disputes and the Philippines' attempts to entrench its illegal occupation of some islands and reefs of China's Nansha Qundao. The Philippines has increasingly intensified its infringement of China's maritime rights and interests. The Philippines also has territorial pretensions on China's Huangyan Dao. The Philippines' unilateral initiation of arbitration is an act of bad faith.

The fifth part details China's policy on the South China Sea issue, including territorial issues concerning Nansha Qundao, maritime delimitation in the South China Sea, ways and means of dispute settlement, managing differences and engaging in practical maritime cooperation in the South China Sea with regards to freedom and safety of navigation in the South China Sea, and the joint upholding of peace and stability in the South China Sea.

The white paper, consisting of more than 20,000 Chinese characters, has already been published in different languages, including Chinese, English, Russian, French, Germany, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic and Portugal. The Chinese and foreign language versions will be printed by the People's Publishing House and Foreign Languages Press, respectively, and will be on sale in Xinhua Bookstore all over the country.

The Chinese people have lived and engaged in production activities on Nanhai Zhudao and in relevant waters since ancient times. Chinese people have called the South China Sea their "forefather's sea." The South China Sea arbitration is actually a political farce presented as a legal issue. The rulings announced by it are null and void and have no binding force and can't change the reality that the Nanhai Zhudao belong to China nor deny China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea. The farce won't make any wave in Chinese people's "forefather's sea." China holds steadfast determination to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and related rights in the South China Sea.

Now, please welcome Mr. Liu to give us more details.

Liu Zhenmin:

Friends from the press, welcome to today's launch of the white paper. Just now, Mr. Guo Weimin briefed everyone on the general idea of this white paper. Launching this white paper is an important step that the Chinese government is taking in response to the Philippines-led arbitration regarding the South China Sea.

The white paper contains five parts, as Mr. Guo said just now. I'd like to give you a systematic introduction of the five parts along with the content.

1. Nanhai Zhudao are China's Inherent Territory.

Chinese people have been conducting activities in the South China Sea for more than 2,000 years. China is the earliest country to have discovered and named the Nanhai Zhudao (the South China Sea Islands), the earliest to have explored and exploited the South China Sea along with the islands and reefs in it, and the earliest to have continuously, peacefully and effectively exercised sovereignty and jurisdiction over them. China's sovereignty over the Nanhai Zhudao along with its various rights and interests were established by the gradual development of history.

Japan once illegally occupied the Nanhai Zhudao during World War II, but returned the stolen territory to China after the war ended, as per the demands of post-war documents, including the Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Proclamation. Therefore, after World War II, China recovered Taiwan, Penghu, Xisha Qundao (Xisha Islands) and Nansha Qundao (Nansha Islands) among other territories that originally belonged to China. After resuming sovereignty over the Nanhai Zhudao, China marked off the South China Sea on the map with the dotted line and announced it to the world in 1948. Therefore, the dotted line dates from 1948.

After the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, China took a further step to preserve its sovereignty over the Nanhai Zhudao and its rights in the South China Sea. China's patrols, law enforcement activities, resource explorations and scientific expeditions around the Nanhai Zhudao and their adjacent waters have never been halted. It's common knowledge in the post-WWII international society that the Nanhai Zhudao belong to China, and this knowledge constitutes the postwar territorial arrangements and international order. In the post-WWII era, many countries' encyclopedias, yearbooks and maps all document Nansha Qundao as part of China's territory.

2. The core of the relevant disputes between China and the Philippines lies in the territorial issues caused by the Philippines' invasion and illegal occupation of some islands and reefs of China's Nansha Qundao.

Since the 1970s, the Philippines started invading and illegally occupying some of the islands and reefs of the Nansha Qundao by military means, and hence raised illegal territorial demands. In an attempt to cover the illegal encroachment of a number of islands and reefs of the Nansha Qundao so as to realize its ambition for territorial expansion, the Philippines fabricated a series of excuses.

But from the perspective of history and international law, the Philippines' claims are absolutely invalid; its illegal territorial demands and fabricated excuses cannot change the basic fact that the Nansha Qundao is part of China's territory.

In addition, with the introduction and development of the new international law of the sea, China and the Philippines have disputes over maritime delimitation for certain sea area of the South China Sea. These disputes should be settled through negotiation.

3. The white paper intends to illustrate that China has been making tireless efforts to peacefully solve the China-Philippines disputes in the South China Sea, and that China has reached a series of important multilateral and bilateral agreements with successive Philippine governments before the Benigno S. Aquino III administration – that is from the Ferdinand Marcos administration to the Aquino III administration – on peacefully solving the disputes in the South China Sea through talks and negotiations, managing and controlling maritime differences, and advancing practical maritime cooperation.

On the bilateral front, the two parties agreed to solve the relevant disputes through negotiations while exercising restraint, and not to take any actions that will lead to the escalation of the situation. The two parties insisted on advancing the practical maritime cooperation and joint exploration, and not to have the relevant disputes affect the healthy development of bilateral ties or the peace and stability of the South China Sea region.

On the regional multilateral front, China signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in 2002; China and the Philippines jointly agreed that the relevant disputes shall be settled through talks and negotiations.

4. In recent years, the Philippines breached the bilateral agreements, and kept taking actions to complicate and escalate the disputes. The Philippines is the instigator of conflict.

The Philippines built military facilities on some islands and reefs it has invaded and illegally occupied in the Nansha Qundao, raised territorial demands for the Huangyan Dao, sent military ships to harass Chinese fishermen and Chinese fishing boats, and conducted unilateral explorations of oil and gas in waters under China's jurisdiction.

The former Philippine government unilaterally initiated the arbitration on the South China Sea. The move breached the China-Philippines bilateral agreement on solving disputes through talks and negotiations, violated the stipulation in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the limitation of arbitration procedures, and violated China's rights as a member state to the UNCLOS to choose independently a means to settle disputes.

The Philippines is abusing the UNCLOS procedures for dispute settlement, fabricating facts and telling lies, attempting to take the opportunity to fully deny China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea.

5. China is an important force for maintaining the peace and stability in the South China Sea.

China has been resolute in upholding its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, and at the same time has insisted on settling disputes through talks and negotiations, insisted on controlling disputes through regulations and mechanisms, insisted on achieving win-win results through mutually beneficial cooperation, and is dedicated to making the South China Sea a region of peace, friendship and cooperation.

Finally, I wish to emphasize that the arbitration case was initiated unilaterally by the former government of the Republic of the Philippines. It violated the China-Philippines bilateral agreement, the multilateral consensus among regional countries and international law, so it is doomed to be abandoned.

China has noticed that the current Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte and the new Philippine government have assumed a positive stance regarding the South China Sea arbitration, expressing a willingness to conduct talks and negotiations with China on the South China Sea issue. China welcomes this. China is willing to make joint efforts with the new Philippine government to properly handle the South China Sea issue, and push China-Philippines relations back on track.

China has confidence in the future of China-Philippines relations!

This is all for my introduction. Now I'd like to take your questions.

Guo Weimin:

Thank you, Mr. Liu. Now it's time for questions. May I kindly remind you to inform us of what media outlet you represent before asking your question?

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