So-called "South China Sea Arbitration Award" fuels unilateral actions of claimant states: expert

The so-called "South China Sea Arbitration Award" has encouraged unilateral actions by countries such as the Philippines to push for territorial expansion in the sea, and undermined efforts for dialogue and consultation, a Chinese expert said.

Since the 1970s, the Philippines has repeatedly shown expansionist intentions, using constitutional amendments, decrees and statements to assert sovereignty over parts of the Nansha Qundao and Huangyan Dao.

For the past 10 years, the "award" has not only failed to resolve the maritime disputes between China and the Philippines, but instead has become a tool for the Philippines to expand its territorial and maritime claims, exacerbated tensions in the region and provided a pretext for external forces to intervene and destabilize the South China Sea, said the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement on Sunday.

"It not just facilitates some of the claimant states to conduct unilateral actions in the region. It also poisoned the atmosphere for dialogue and consultation. It's a real pity," said Yan Yan, director of the Research Center of Oceans Law and Policy at the National Institute for the South China Sea Studies.

Shen Hao, a professor at the School of Journalism at the Communication University of China, said the South China Sea holds major strategic and geopolitical importance for China, as substantial international trade, shipping and strategic resources pass through the area and the Malacca Strait.

"Rebuilding this maritime route, particularly the joint development with surrounding countries, has actually been what we have advocated for," Shen said.

To pursue common development, China has launched multiple projects with countries in the region, such as Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park. Yan told China Global Television Network (CGTN) that these projects are good news resources for Chinese media coverage to counter the misleading information from the Western media.

"I think that you should explore more of these stories. You see, countries' maritime policy differs greatly from one to another. So, we focus more on cooperation on those projects in terms of the Philippines. The Philippines is very ambitious now, and they wanted to change the status quo. But I don't think that will be a very big problem because China currently has the capability to maintain peace and stability in the region," Yan told CGTN.

"And I don't think that large-scale incidents or conflicts will happen in the foreseeable future. The Western media always like selectively reporting all those incidents in the South China Sea, and they want to simplify this very complex historic and legal dispute in the South China Sea to a 'binary great nation versus small country theory'," she added.

So-called "South China Sea Arbitration Award" fuels unilateral actions of claimant states: expert

An endangered Indochinese gray langur has been captured on infrared camera in a nature reserve in southwest China's Yunnan Province, highlighting continued improvement in the area's biodiversity and conservation efforts.

Reserve staff recently discovered the footage while reviewing camera-trap data collected in a provincial nature reserve in Mojiang Hani Autonomous County, Pu'er City.

The video shows the langur climbing onto vine-covered branches with its long tail hanging below before pausing to scan its surroundings. After confirming the area was safe, the animal relaxed and remained perched in the forest canopy.

The Indochinese gray langur is listed as an endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and is under China's first-class state protection.

Local authorities say strengthened habitat protection and management in recent years have steadily improved the local ecological environment. In addition to the rare langur, other protected wildlife, such as slow lorises, silver pheasants and red junglefowl, have also been recorded in the reserve, reflecting the recovery of local biodiversity.

Rare Indochinese grey langur spotted in Yunnan nature reserve