HONG KONG, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Lies and misconceptions produced by the illegal "award" of the so-called "South China Sea Arbitration" in the past decade were refuted by experts of international law attending a roundtable dialogue held in Hong Kong on Monday.
The "award" was delivered by a makeshift "arbitral tribunal" on the "South China Sea Arbitration," which was unilaterally initiated by the Philippines with support from forces outside the region, concurred experts from over 10 countries and regions including Britain, Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan and Malaysia.
In the past decade since the "South China Sea Arbitration Award," certain claimant states in the South China Sea and countries outside the region have attempted to brand the "award" -- a null and void document scribbled with lies -- as a touchstone of the international rule of law, misleading the international community with fallacies.
It is therefore necessary to keep refuting the "award" to uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea, said attendees of the event.
The "award" of the "South China Sea Arbitration" was political manipulation disguised as legal moves, said Qi Dahai, head of the Department of Treaty and Law of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a keynote speech at the event.
The "arbitral tribunal in the South China Sea Arbitration" handled the case ultra vires and rendered an illegal, null and void "award," Qi said.
China does not accept or participate in the "arbitration" and does not recognize the "award," which are legitimate actions aimed at upholding the international rule of law as well as the integrity and authority of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, he said.
Noting that a few countries, including the United States and the Philippines, have kept rehashing the "award," Qi underlined the need to continuously refute it to uphold fairness and justice.
Over the past decade, the Philippines and certain countries have distorted the illegal and non-binding "award" to serve their interests and hype up the "China threat in the South China Sea," said Wu Shicun, chairman of Huayang Center for Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance.
"We must expose to the world the underlying logic behind the interest coalition built behind the illegitimate 'award'," Wu added.
Zhou Yong, vice president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, pointed out that some countries publicly support the "award" even as their own maritime claims directly contradict its rulings.
Such obvious double standards, he argued, reveal that their backing of the document is driven chiefly by political manipulation.
Instead of solving disputes, the "award" has undermined the chances of negotiations and cooperation in the South China Sea, said Phillip Saunders, a professor emeritus of law at Canada's Dalhousie University.
The "arbitration" is an utter failure in terms of dispute settlement, he added, pointing to major errors made by the "arbitral tribunal."
The Philippines tried to stoke division across the region and isolate China using the "award," which created more problems for finding peace and stability in the South China Sea, said Ruhanas Harun, a professor of the Department of International Relations, Security and Law at the National Defence University of Malaysia.
A new critique of the "South China Sea Arbitration Award," jointly compiled by the National Institute for South China Sea Studies and Huayang Center for Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance, was issued at Monday's event.
The document exposed the serious errors and flaws of the "award" in terms of legal interpretation and application, factual findings, and treatment of evidence.
Xu Xiaodong, executive vice chairman of Huayang Center for Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance, expressed hope that the report will enable the international community to become more clearly aware of the illegality and perniciousness of the "award," and steer all parties back onto the correct track of managing differences and pursuing win-win cooperation. ■
