Beijing: China on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on the jurists of a UN-backed international tribunal that struck down its claims over the strategic South China Sea, saying a Japanese judge who appointed the arbitrators "manipulated" the judgement against Beijing.
Except for a German judge who was appointed at the instance of the Philippines - the petitioner in the dispute - the rest of the four were appointed by Japanese jurist and diplomat Shunji Yanai, China's Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told a nationally televised media conference.
Claiming that the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague has no international status and its judgement can not be enforceable, he specially targeted Yanai saying he is a former Japanese diplomat and assisted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Yanai manipulated the tribunal against China by appointing four judges from different European countries. These judges were not paid by the UN and who has paid them, Liu asked.
The judges - all European and one African - living in Europe has no knowledge of Asian history and culture, he said. China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including reefs and islands also claimed by others, through which USD 5 trillion in trade passes annually.
It had refused to take part in the tribunal proceedings, with officials saying the tribunal had "no jurisdiction". Following yesterday's verdict against its claim over the SCS, China immediately said it would defy the decision, which it described as "null and void" with "no binding force."
Earlier this month, in an article in the ruling Communist Party of China's mouthpiece magazine 'Qiushi', the Chinese assistant foreign minister had cast doubt on the make-up of the tribunal, saying none of the five judges had knowledge of the history and international order of ancient East Asia, according to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.
Liu has said in the article that one of the judges Yanai appointed included a person who had ruled against a party holding a position similar to China in a previous case.
"Leaving aside the obvious violation of procedural justice, we can hardly make a better explanation of Judge Yanai's motivation and purpose other than that he did it on purpose," Liu has said.
The tribunal was composed of Judge Thomas A Mensah of Ghana, Judge Jean-Pierre Cot of France, Judge Stanislaw Pawlak of Poland, Professor Alfred H A Soons of The Netherlands, and Judge R?diger Wolfrum of Germany.
Japanese jurist Yanai has previously defended defended himself in an interview to the 'Japanese Times' saying he had to pick up the judges as president of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
"I just happen to be a Japanese, but the annex to the convention provides that in case the arbitrators are not appointed by the parties or by agreement by the parties then the president of ITLOS must do it," Yanai said.
"As the president of ITLOS, I didn't act as a Japanese representative. I don't represent the Japanese at all in the tribunal. That is quite obvious."
China could have chosen a Chinese arbitrator but instead decided to ignore the tribunal, Yanai said. The white paper attacked the Philippines saying that Manila turned a blind eye to bilateral consensus, has repeatedly taken moves that complicate the relevant disputes, gradually intensified them between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea.
The Philippines built military facilities on some islands and reefs of China's Nansha Qundao (the Nansha Islands/Spratly islands) it has invaded and illegally occupied.
The Philippines deliberately destroyed survey markers set up by China and attempted to illegally occupy China's Ren'ai Jiao by using a military vessel illegally run around it.
The Philippines also has territorial pretencions on China's Huangyan Dao and attempted to occupy it illegally, deliberately causing the Huangyan Dao Incident, it said.
The Philippines has intruded into relevant maritime areas of China's Nansha Qundao to carry out illegal oil and gas exploratory drilling and bidding.
The Philippines has repeatedly harassed and attacked Chinese fishermen and fishing boats conducting routine fishing operations, according to the white paper.
In January 2013, the then government of the Republic of the Philippines unilaterally initiated the South China Sea arbitration.
By doing so, the Philippines has violated its standing agreement with China to settle the relevant disputes through bilateral negotiation, has violated China's right to choose means of dispute settlement of its own will as a State Party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and has abused the UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures, it said.
"The Philippines has distorted facts, misinterpreted laws and concocted a pack of lies, in an attempt to deny China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea," it said.
The Arbitral Tribunal established at the Philippines' unilateral request has no jurisdiction over relevant submissions, and awards rendered by it are null and void and have no binding force, the white paper said.
China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea shall under no circumstances be affected by those awards.
China does not accept or recognise those awards. China opposes and will never accept any claim or action based on those awards, it said.
