China Strongly Objects to So-Called Japan-Philippines Maritime Delimitation Talks, Insists China Must Be a Party to Any Talks Concerning Waters East of Taiwan

Beijing. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Tuesday that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same China, and all Chinese people on both sides of the Strait have the shared responsibility to uphold national sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.

Spokesperson Mao made the remarks at a daily press briefing when asked to comment on Taiwan authorities’ affirmation of the so-called maritime delimitation talks between Japan and the Philippines. The two countries announced they will delimit the area east of the Taiwan island.

According to China’s domestic law and international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), China has exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in the area involved, Mao said. As per UNCLOS, the delimitation of the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf between states with opposite or adjacent coasts shall be effected by the states concerned by agreement on the basis of equity, she stated.

“Any delimitation concerning waters to the east of Taiwan must have China as a party to the talks,” Mao said. She stated that Japan and the Philippines’ attempt to bypass China and initiate the so-called maritime delimitation talks constitutes a severe violation of UNCLOS and other international laws and basic norms governing international relations, adding that it also seriously infringes on China’s maritime rights and interests and China will not allow this.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities, in pursuing selfish political gains, have gone so far as to put the Chinese nation’s vital interest up for sale, a move that betrays ancestors and breaches all moral boundaries, Mao said. “This once again shows that these separatists have completely forfeited the national stance and degenerated into traitors to the nation. What awaits them is contempt from Chinese on both sides of the Strait and the judgement of history,” Mao said.