Seeing through the veil of arbitration to sit down for talks

It looks like a prefect trap for Beijing:

Succumb to foreign pressure by "respecting" the coming ruling of a tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which could hardly be in its favor, and see its historical sovereignty claim in the South China Sea collapse;

Or assume the bad-guy role in the South China Sea narrative Washington, Tokyo and a few other players have scripted, and carry the cross of a lawless rule-breaker.