Filipinos rejoice as Hague Tribunal rules in favour of the Philippines

FP Staff • July 12, 2016, 18:17:11 IST

Filipinos celebrate the Hague tribunal’s ruling favoring the Philippines in its case against China on the dispute on South China sea.

Vietnamese expatriates cheer while displaying placards during a rally by the Manila’s baywalk before the Hague-based U.N. international arbitration tribunal announced its ruling on South China Sea on 12 July 2016, Philippines.

The Vietnamese supported the Philippines’ case it filed before the international tribunal on China’s nine-dash line claim in the South China Sea.

Protesters shout slogans while displaying placards denouncing China during a rally outside of the Chinese Consulate hours before the Hague tribunal announced its ruling on South China Sea.

The protesters urged China “to respect the Philippines’ rights over its exclusive economic zone and extended continental shelf” as mandated by the U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS.

Ahead of the decision, new Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte had signalled he did not want to antagonise China, saying he would not “taunt or flaunt” a favourable ruling and would seek a “soft landing” with China.

China’s claims were first enshrined in a map drawn in the 1940s with a nine-dash line stretching south from China and encircling almost all of the sea, although it says Chinese fishermen have been using it for centuries.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, left, and European Council President Donald Tusk, second from left, hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, during a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on 12 July, 2016.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, center, claps as EU Ambassador to China Hans Dietmar Schweisgut, left, and China’s Director of the National Energy Administration Nur Bekri shake hands after signing documents on the “EU-China Roadmap on Energy Cooperation 2016-2020” during a signing ceremony at an EU-China Summit meeting in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 12 July , 2016.

Filipinos celebrate the Hague-based U.N. international arbitration tribunal’s ruling favoring the Philippines in its case against China on the dispute on South China Sea on 12 July, 2016 in the financial district of Makati city, east of Manila, Philippines.

A Chinese Coast Guard ship attempts to block a Philippine government vessel as the latter tries to enter Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) issued its ruling on July 12, 2016, saying that any historic rights to resources that China may have had were wiped out if they are incompatible with exclusive economic zones established under a U.N. treaty.