‘Following US precedent, China will ignore Hague’s ruling on territorial rights in South China Sea’
RT.com
14 Jul, 2016
China has said the issue of territorial rights in the South China Sea is a matter of its sovereignty, echoing past US sentiment regarding the jurisdiction of The Hague, Cynthia McKinney, former US Congresswoman, Green Party, told RT.
China’s Foreign Ministry criticized a statement made by the US State Department approving Hague arbitration court’s decision on China’s territorial rights in the South China Sea. Washington denied trying to influence the court’s decision, while also emphasizing that it’s still legally binding for China. The Hague ruled that China has caused irreversible harm to the ecosystem of the Spratly Islands and violated sovereign rights of the Philippines.
RT: The US had similar situation 30 years mounting a legal challenge against the country by Nicaragua. Then American ambassador to the UN called the Hague court ‘a semi-legal, semi-juridical, semi-political body, which nations sometimes accept and sometimes don’t.’ Which one is it ‘legally binding’ or ‘semi-legal’?
Cynthia McKinney: I think the US has set the precedent and so China has said that this is a matter of its sovereignty. Therefore, it is not going to recognize the jurisdiction of The Hague. This has been done before by the US and so the US is going to have to live with the results of its own behavior.
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