Flix

Fourteen global powers just issued a scathing joint statement rejecting Beijing’s sprawling South China Sea claims as completely lawless. Marking the 10th anniversary of the landmark 2016 Hague arbitral award, the coalition reaffirmed that the ruling is final and legally binding on China. This unified pushback directly challenges the CCP's aggressive expansionism and maritime lawfare. The timing and scale of this 14-nation coalition represent a major diplomatic blow to Beijing's regional ambitions. The joint statement—signed by the US, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, the UK, Canada, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovenia—explicitly reiterates that China's "nine-dash line" historical claims have no basis in international law. This collective stance directly targets the CCP's escalating gray-zone coercion, which recently involved deploying water cannons and ramming Philippine vessels near Second Thomas Shoal. In a predictable counter-offensive, China’s Foreign Ministry fired back with a rigid five-point response to justify its non-compliance. Beijing asserted absolute sovereignty over the Nanhai islands, insisted that the South China Sea remains a safe maritime corridor, and claimed its historic rights predate modern legal frameworks. Furthermore, the CCP dismissed the 2016 international tribunal as a political farce, calling the legally binding award nothing more than "illegal, null, and void waste paper" that has only aggravated regional instability. The CCP bears direct responsibility for forcing this international consolidation through its lawless militarization of disputed waters. By ignoring the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the regime exposes a glaring contradiction in its foreign policy: it demands adherence to a "multilateral world order" while actively trampling the sovereign rights of its smaller neighbors.

It looks like the fox let its tail show — as the Chinese saying goes. Just days after proposing “a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation,” Beijing — on the 10th anniversary of the Arbitral Tribunal’s South China Sea ruling in favor of the Philippines — dismisses the unanimous decision as a “worthless piece of paper.” I guess China only favors cooperation that it wins.

China deplores and rejects the joint statement issued by the U.S. and the Philippines together with several European countries as well as the statement from the EU ten years after the “South China Sea arbitration award”. The statements are a distortion of facts and act of vilification against China. China’s sovereignty over Nanhai Zhudao and relevant rights and interests in the South China Sea were established in the long course of history, and are solidly grounded in the law. Double standards on issues concerning international law will only further erode relevant European countries’ own credibility. China urges the EU side to stop endorsing the illegal “award” and not to affect the China-EU ties and cooperation.