According to China News Service, on the 10th, the international academic seminar "South China Sea: History and Reality," jointly hosted by the National Institute for South China Sea Studies and the Huayang Maritime Center, was held in Beijing. More than 150 experts, scholars and institutional representatives from over ten countries and regions, including China, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, the UK, Canada, Russia, and Germany, attended the conference.
Sarawati Mat Basir, professor at the Faculty of Law of the National University of Malaysia, told a China News Service reporter: "I have always firmly believed that, in the absence of intervention from any other outside powers, China and all relevant Southeast Asian countries can sit down and negotiate together."
Rommel Banlaoi, Chairman of the Philippine Society for International Security Studies, stated that the best way to resolve disputes is to restore bilateral relations through dialogue, with the key factor being the rebuilding of mutual trust. He pointed out that other countries are making the peaceful resolution of the South China Sea issue more complicated, noting that the Philippines is deeply influenced by the United States, and that the US is using the Philippines to compete with China geopolitically.
● Chinese Scholars Refute the 2016 "South China Sea Arbitration" Award
Wu Shicun, Chairman of the Academic Committee of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies and Chairman of the Board of the Huayang Maritime Center, pointed out that China possesses ample historical and legal evidence for its sovereignty over the South China Sea islands, and that the Chinese people have administered and managed the South China Sea since ancient times. After World War II, in accordance with the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, China completed the recovery of these islands in 1946 and announced it to the world.
He refuted the 2016 "South China Sea Arbitration" award, stating that the ruling is completely invalid due to the arbitral tribunal's ultra vires jurisdiction, unfair composition, and factual errors, emphasizing that it has become a "time bomb undermining stability in the South China Sea." Wu Shicun called on regional countries to jointly uphold the post-WWII international order, to reject external intervention, and to build a South China Sea community with a shared future through practical maritime cooperation.