Philippines calls on China to comply with 2016 arbitral ruling over South China Sea
President Rodrigo Duterte’s government in Philippines has called on China to comply with 2016 arbitral ruling which had ruled that China has no ‘historic rights over the waters of South China Sea’.“Compliance in good faith with the award would be consistent with the obligations of the Philippines and China under international law, including UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) to which both parties are signatories,” Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said in a statement.The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands had ruled that China has no ‘historic rights’ over the waters of the South China Sea. It also said that China has interfered with traditional Philippine fishing rights at Scarborough Shoal, even as Beijing claimed historic rights to the water