The international community has continued to criticize the biased arbitration on the South China Sea dispute, while calling for bilateral negotiations to solve the issue.
On Tuesday, the Hague-based tribunal handling the South China Sea arbitration case unilaterally initiated by the former Philippine government issued its final award, denying China's long-standing historical rights in the South China Sea.
ILLEGAL ARBITRATION, VOID AWARD
Chinese government, white paper titled "China Adheres to the Position of Settling Through Negotiation the Relevant Disputes Between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea"
-- The Philippines' territorial claim over part of Nansha Qundao is groundless from the perspectives of either history or international law.
Ashfaqur Rahman, former Bangladeshi ambassador to China
-- What the tribunal has done can never be called an arbitration.
Chang Ya-chung, professor of politics at Taiwan University
-- The award is totally nonsense and malicious, a result of political maneuvering.
Omar al-Mekdad, Syrian expert on Chinese affairs
-- The decision taken by the tribunal in The Hague is politicized and has deliberately overlooked the historic facts about China's sovereign right over the South China Sea territory.
Shahid Qureshi, London Post editor and political analyst
-- I am of the view that the tribunal must review its position and jurisdiction for the sake of the institution it stands for; otherwise it will become a joke in the legal history as they did not follow the due process of law.
