Professor Xu Tongmei, a Singaporean Ambassador, said that the UNCLOS Convention (UNCLOS) is an important pillar of the order of international law and provides a guarantee for the marine rights and interests of Asians and many countries.He believes that China is trying to weaken UNCLOS and does not meet China's national interests; at the same time, he also calls on the United States to lead by example to approve the convention.
Xu Tongmei Monday (August 8) attended the "Southeast Asian Lecture Hall" online lecture organized by the Indonesian Foreign Policy Association that UNCLOS is not a product of the West, but a convention formulated by more than 150 countries.Among them, developing countries play an important role in the process of consulting and adopting.
UNCLOS passed in 1982 and officially took effect in 1994.At that time, Xu Tongmei, who was the chairman of the 3rd UN Oceanic Law Conference, participated in the formulation of UNCLOS.
Xu Tongmei said that except for Cambodia, the other nine members of Ayanan's nine members of the ACLOS signed country.He believes that UNCLOS is vital to Asia, especially in dealing with China ’s South China Sea disputes.
"What I want to propose is that although China has participated in the formulation of the Convention and is a signing country, it has recently tried to weaken the importance of Unclos."
Among the Asianan countries, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei are sovereignty of the South China Sea.Among them, the Philippines chose to seek to seek territorial disputes between it and China.In 2016, the Hague arbitral tribunal judged that China had no legal basis for the sovereignty of the South China Sea with the "nine sections", but Beijing insisted on not participating and accepting the lawsuit.
Xu Tongmei admits that international law has limitations in the enforcement mechanism.Because the lawsuit is bilateral, the ruling is binding only between the Philippines and China.In view of the interests with China, Asians have always remained silent on this important ruling.
Xu Tongmei appeals to the United States for approval of the United States
Xu Tongmei pointed out that China has a long coastline and is one of Unclos's largest beneficiary."Weaken UNCLOS does not meet China's national interests, because the Convention fundamentally protects China's interests."
In addition, although the United States has fulfilled relevant international law, UNCLOS has not been approved so far.
Xu Tongmei said that the situation in the United States is embarrassing. It requires China to abide by the Convention, but it is not a signing country."I want to call on the US Senate to do the right thing. Because you make your government embarrassed and are harming the interests of the country."
