Insights丨Global experts call for communication and cooperation on South China Sea issue

(ECNS) – Scholars at an international symposium in Beijing called for enhanced communication to address the South China Sea issue, calling for peace in the region and the need to exclude external interference.

The symposium on the history and reality of the South China Sea brought together participants from around the world to discuss post-World War II international order, sovereignty over Nanhai Zhudao -- known in English as the South China Sea islands -- and the re-evaluation of the South China Sea arbitration award in 2016.

Wu Shicun, chairman of the Huayang Center for Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance, said that China's sovereignty over Nanhai Zhudao and its adjacent waters is based on ample historical and legal. He emphasized that China has exercised jurisdiction over the region since ancient times, completed the recovery of these islands in 1946 in accordance with the post-WWII international order, and officially announced it to the world.

"China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should advance the consultations of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC), and work together to safeguard peace and stability in the region," Wu said.

Anthony Carty, emeritus professor of Law at Beijing Institute of Technology, stated that archival evidence supported China's claims over a number of islands.

"My legal expertise concerns the issue of the ownership of the South China Sea islands and my archival material demonstrates that the islands are Chinese and have been Chinese for centuries," Carty told China News Network during an interview.

He emphasized that "from a legal and a justice point of view, Chinese rights have been disturbed and they simply have to be restored."

Carty further pointed out that "the situation has been escalated by the United States quite explicitly" while the present policies of the Chinese government are very "robust."

Phillip Saunders, dean emeritus and adjunct professor at Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, called for cooperation to handle the South China Sea issue.

"Whatever happens, it's going to be done by cooperation," said Saunders.