Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi restated Beijing’s rejection of the South China Sea arbitration ruling on Friday, the eve of the ruling’s ninth anniversary.
Wang dismissed the 2016 decision as a “farce”, saying the case – brought by Manila against Beijing’s claims and ruled on by a tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague – had been “orchestrated and manipulated by external powers”.
Their purpose “was to destabilise the South China Sea for their own benefit”, Wang said during the annual East Asian foreign ministers’ meetings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
He said China was working to maintain stability in the region and had sped up negotiations on a binding South China Sea code of conduct with Asean.
“All attempts to stir up trouble or sow discord will ultimately fail,” he added.