China claims Philippine arbitration case a ‘political drama’ orchestrated by US

KAYCEE VALMONTE Philstar.com

MANILA — China again downplayed the 2016 Hague ruling on the South China Sea, calling it "illegal, null, and void" as it accused the United States of using it as a geopolitical tool.

China has refused to recognize the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on the case that the Philippines filed in 2013 to question the sweeping nine-dash-line. It did not participate in the case either.

"We would also like to point out that the South China Sea arbitration case brought by the Philippines was pure political drama orchestrated by the U.S.," Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of the China Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a press conference on Tuesday, February 14.

"The U.S. invokes its Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines at every turn in an attempt to intimidate China, but it will not weaken our resolve and will to safeguard China’s legitimate and lawful rights and interests," he added.

The Hague ruling was released in the early days of

Nursing students from Centro Escolar University (CEU) gather for the annual capping and pinning ceremony at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. Philstar.com file photo by Edd Gumban