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The Statement made by Party A JUST RUSSIA on the situation with the South China Sea 07 июля 2016 Party A JUST RUSSIA made a statement on the situation with the South China Sea. We’d like to remind that in January 2013, the Philippines unilaterally initiated international arbitration on the territorial dispute with China over certain areas in the South China Sea. Official Beijing categorically refuses to participate in the arbitration and to recognize the right of the international Court of Arbitration to hear cases of territorial disputes. Party A JUST RUSSIA is also convinced that such disputes must be resolved through negotiations between the countries having direct concern: Political Party A JUST RUSSIA expresses its concern over the situation connected with the territorial dispute in the South China Sea, in particular, over the emerging trend towards internationalization of this regional issue. We call all the parties concerned for strict compliance with the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Montego Bay, Jamaica, 10 December 1982), the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 4 November 2002) and the guidelines for the implementation of this Declaration by settling the disputes on the base of respect for historical facts and through negotiating between the parties concerned. We completely support the provisions of the Joint Communiqué on the 14th meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Russian Federation, the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China (Moscow, 18 April 2016). Point 21 of this Communiqué says "Russia, India and China are committed to maintaining a legal order for the seas based on the principles of international law, as reflected notably in the UN Convention on the Law of Seas (UNCLOS). All related disputes should be addressed through negotiations and agreements between the parties concerned. In this regard the Ministers called for full respect of all provisions of UNCLOS, as well as the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and the guidelines for the implementation of the DOC." Party A JUST RUSSIA is also solidary with the position of the foreign ministers of the states-members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that was made clear during the meeting of the SCO Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs held in Tashkent on 23-24 May 2016: "Ministers reaffirm their countries’ commitment to maintaining law and order on the sea based on the principles of international law, in particular, those sealed in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. All disputes in this sphere are to be settled peacefully through amicable talks and agreements between the parties concerned, without any effort to internationalize these disputes and without external interference. In this context, the ministers called for strict compliance with all provisions of the above-mentioned Convention, the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and the guidelines for the implementation of this declaration."
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