Beijing Suggests it may stop activities in South China Sea if Manila Cancels arbitration

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in report that his country China would be willing to stop its activities in disputed areas in the South China Sea provided that the Philippines backs out of international negotiation it has initiated last year.

Wang was referring to the “triple-action plan” of the Philippines, which was proposed by Albert Del Rosario, Philippine Foreign Secretary. The proposal was submitted at a regional security summit in order to resolve the maritime disputes and to minimize tensions between the claimants.

 Manila's proposal demands for the annoyance of a moratorium on all one-sided actions in disputed waters on an "immediate" basis, however, Wang said Manila violated its proposal when it filed its case before the United Nations in January last year. China has declined to partake in the arbitration actions.

In the ASEAN meeting on Friday, Yi told the reporters  if the Philippine side would like to execute the plan, then it should revoke an international arbitration in the first place believing that is the third step of its plan. He said that the Philippines skipped the first two steps and jumped directly to the third. He also added that China could comply with Manila’s first two proposals if it cancels the arbitration.

However, Manila showed earlier some photographs on China’s  activity of building an airstrip on the disputed Johnson South Reef, which is within the 370km exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. In May it also installed an oil rig near the Paracel Islands, flashing naval confrontations and deadly anti-Chinese riots. 

But the rig was removed by China last month.

Both the Philippines and Vietnam protest that Beijing's activities violated the Declaration of Conduct signed by Southeast Asian nations and China in 2002.   Other Asean members like Malaysia and Brunei also have territorial claims in the South China Sea.