Philippines reveals true colors in arbitration

The hearing on the merits of the South China Sea arbitration case further reveals the true colors of the Philippines. The truth about the "Emperor's New Clothes" is out. During the hearing, the Philippines made a big fuss about China's sovereignty over the South China Sea Islands and went out of its way to negate China's territorial sovereignty. This fully demonstrates that the South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines is, in essence, a dispute about territory. The only motive and objective of the Philippines' initiation of the arbitration is to deny China's sovereignty over the South China Sea Islands. But no matter how this "arbitration" farce continues to play out, China's sovereignty over the South China Sea Islands brooks no denial.

In disregard of basic historical facts, the Philippines falsely claims that the Chinese people historically have carried out few activities and have had no presence in the South China Sea, and China never has sovereignty over the South China Sea Islands. History, however, brooks no denial. The South China Sea Islands have been China's territory since ancient times. Successive Chinese governments have exercised continuous jurisdiction over the islands by means of administrative control, military patrol, production and business operations, and maritime disaster relief, among others. After the Japanese war of aggression against China, Japan occupied China's Xisha and Nansha islands. Following its victory in the war, China sent warships to recover the Xisha and Nansha islands, and garrisoned troops and built various military and civilian facilities on the islands, thus resuming exercise of sovereignty over the South China Sea Islands de jure and de facto.

Disregarding its untold suffering and devastation inflicted by the Japanese militarist aggression during the Second World War, the Philippines unexpectedly claimed the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation not legally binding. As a matter of fact, these two documents are important international legal instruments published during the Second World War, and form the bedrock of the post-war international order in East Asia. It is clearly stipulated in the two documents that Japan shall return the Chinese territory it had stolen from China. In the document on normalization of its diplomatic ties with China, Japan also made explicit commitment to complying with the relevant provisions of the Potsdam Proclamation. Some members of the Philippine authorities, out of their smug calculation of territorial expansion, have turned a blind eye to historical facts and gone so far as to seek selfish interests at the expense of the feelings of the Philippine people and the fruits of the World Anti-Fascist War. This only exposes the shortsightedness of these Philippine politicians, who could have no bottom line at all even in pursuit of just a few petty interests.