British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC):

You talked [about] the need for agreements to settle the disputes in the South China Sea. Is China prepared to share the resources of the South China Sea -- for example fishing, oil, gas -- with other nations? And what is the mechanism by which that would happen? Do we need a direct country-to-country agreement or something like that? What's the mechanism by which China can share the resources of the South China Sea with other nations, if it is prepared to do so?

Liu Zhenmin:

Since we signed UNCLOS in 1982, China and other littoral countries around the South China Sea have ratified the convention one after another. Disputes in the area have emerged since then. In order to address such disputes, China has established channels for bilateral negotiation with these countries. For instance, we have negotiated with Vietnam on maritime delimitation. After years of efforts, we signed with Vietnam in 2000 the Delimitation of Maritime Boundary in the Beibu Gulf and Management of Fishing Activity in the Beibu Gulf. And we have had effective cooperation in the negotiation of borders, joint development and fields of low sensitivity; particularly, the method for delimitation of maritime boundaries in the waters beyond the mouth of the Beibu Gulf has been in effective operation. We also signed an agreement in 2011 with Vietnam on the guiding principles of resolving maritime issues. China and the Philippines have maintained bilateral communication since 1996, including with regards to fishing and confidence-building measures. During the administration of former Philippine President Arroyo, China and the Philippines carried out cooperation on maritime seismic research in the disputed area, which was later joined by Vietnam. We expected to move it to the next stage after the three-party cooperation, but it was halted when the Philippines altered its stance after a leadership change.

China has maintained bilateral communication and cooperation with Malaysia and Brunei. In fact, China and other littoral countries around the South China Sea are aware of the complexity of settling the disputes. It cannot be resolved within a short period of time, thus we've been exploring ways to cooperate. China was the first country to put forward the principle of "joint development while shelving disputes," which it still maintains to this day. The cooperation between China and the Philippines was only stopped when the government led by Benigno Aquino III took the issue to the tribunal. As I've said, the award is null and void and will not be enforced. I hope that we'll go back to the negotiating table to resolve disputes and return to the path of cooperation to share our common interests.

I believe that China and other littoral countries around the South China Sea can reach agreements whether it is on fishing or oil and gas resources. This is the position consistently upheld by the Chinese government and we are sure of that.