China News Service:

My question is after the award being rendered by the arbitrational tribunal, what's China's view of the role of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC)? Will consultations on a "Code of Conduct" (COC) in the South China Sea be suspended?

Liu Zhenmin:

Unfortunately, the arbitration tribunal denied the DOC's legal effect during the process of hearing, especially the Article 4 which stated that the parties concerned undertake to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, "through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned." There are some papers from the Chinese Society of International Law rejecting the arbitration tribunal's interpretation of the DOC. This denial of the legal effect of DOC and the country's commitment in the DOC goes against the international practice and the basic principles uphold by the International Court of Justice. This award has caused attention and concern from China and ASEAN countries on DOC.

In the past two years, China has made efforts to communicate with ASEAN countries, and we hope those countries won't abandon the DOC because of the arbitration. ASEAN countries reaffirmed that the DOC is still the regional regulation among China and ASEAN countries when solving the South China Sea issue. I have been in charge of the DOC and COC's negotiation and implementation during the past five years. We can say that all the negotiation on the DOC and COC are moving forward. All the ASEAN countries promised that the DOC won't be affected, since the DOC was signed by foreign ministers from 11 countries. A signed declaration must have effective force. We will, together with ASEAN countries, promote the implementation of the DOC and consultation on the COC, and work for the early conclusion of COC on the basis of consensus building. Thank you.

Guo Weimin:

Finally, I have one more opinion to share. Some people say that the announcement of the arbitration will make China isolated, but I don't think this situation will arise. Such intention will not be realized. We, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other departments have released some information which shows, to our knowledge, that the governments of more than 70 countries from across the world have expressed their support for the Chinese government, in addition to the support from more than 230 political parties in over 90 countries.

Many media friends, think tank experts and scholars that we keep in contact with have expressed in various ways their support for the Chinese government. A number of media friends said they wish to better understand the detailed information. I think that if they need it, we would like to provide more with detailed materials regarding this issue at a proper time.

This is the end of today's conference. Thank you, Mr. Vice Minister Liu Zhenmin, and thank you all!

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