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India Reaffirms South China Sea Stand, Calls for Disputes to Be Resolved Under UNCLOS

DN News Network — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 18:12:29 +0530

New Delhi, July 14

India on Tuesday said its position on the South China Sea issue remains “clear and well-known,” stressing the importance of freedom of navigation, overflight and peaceful resolution of maritime disputes in accordance with international law.

Responding to media queries during the weekly press briefing, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the principles of international law reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) should guide the resolution of maritime disputes.

“Regarding the issue concerning the South China Sea, our position is clear and well-known. We emphasise the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight, other lawful uses of the sea, and unimpeded commerce, in accordance with international law as reflected in UNCLOS (the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea). This has always been our consistent position,” Jaiswal said.

“Maritime disputes should be resolved peacefully and in accordance with UNCLOS. The ruling delivered by the Arbitral Tribunal ten years ago is a significant milestone and a basis for the peaceful resolution of disputes among the concerned parties,” he added.

The comments came on the tenth anniversary of the July 12, 2016 ruling issued by the Arbitral Tribunal constituted under Annex VII of UNCLOS in the South China Sea case.
The United States, the United Kingdom and a dozen other Western and Asian countries reasserted on Sunday that

China's expansive claims in the South China Sea are illegal based on a 2016 arbitration ruling. A joint statement issued by the 14 nations said they rejected "destabilizing" actions in the disputed waters that threaten regional stability. The 27-nation European union released a separate statement, reaffirming the ruling as a "landmark decision in the peaceful settlement of disputes."

A group of 14 countries, including the United States and Japan, recently reaffirmed the 2016 arbitral award, stating that China’s broad claims in the South China Sea have no legal basis under international law.

The joint statement issued by Japan, Australia, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, the Philippines, Romania, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and the United States reiterated support for a “free and open Indo-Pacific that is peaceful, stable and rules-based.”

The countries said the 2016 decision remains “final, legally binding and definitive” between China and the Philippines regarding the maritime claims and entitlements covered by the case. They also reaffirmed the tribunal’s conclusion that there is no legal basis for China’s expansive maritime claims, including those based on alleged “historic rights.”

The countries called on all parties to respect the arbitral award and resolve disputes peacefully through dialogue and other lawful mechanisms consistent with international law.

The European union also urged parties involved in the South China Sea dispute to fully implement the 2016 ruling, describing it as final and legally binding on China and the Philippines.

China, however, has consistently rejected the tribunal’s decision and refused to recognise the ruling despite repeated calls from the Philippines and other international partners.

On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague issued a unanimous verdict in the case filed by the Philippines against China. It marked the first time an international tribunal ruled on the legal validity of competing maritime claims in the South China Sea.

A key aspect of the ruling involved China’s “Nine-Dash Line” claim, which covers a large portion of the South China Sea. Beijing had argued that it possessed historic rights over resources within the area.

The tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within areas covered by the Nine-Dash Line where such claims were incompatible with maritime zones established under UNCLOS.

In Beijing, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the arbitration tribunal and its ruling "seriously contravene the general practice of international arbitration" and "gravely infringe upon China's legitimate rights as a sovereign state and state party to UNCLOS and are unjust and unlawful."

"China opposes and will never accept any claim or action based on those awards," the Chinese foreign ministry said, adding that Beijing "does not accept any means of third-party dispute settlement or any solution imposed on China."

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China's Fujian aircraft carrier makes port post its first full-force training exercise amid spiking tensions with Japan

Nysa Rajesh Warlekar — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 23:54:11 +0530

Beijing, 18th November 2025

China's newly developed Fujian aircraft carrier returned to port today, after PLA personnel conducted a training mission with the carrier-based strike group, following its diplomatic fallout with Japan, reportedly marking its "first maritime live-force training," after it was commissioned on Nov 5.

A home-designed vessel, the Fujian is China's third aircraft carrier, and its first indigenously developed carrier, and is right now the world's largest conventionally powered warship.
Displacing more than 80,000 tonnes and equipped with an advanced electromagnetic catapult system and arresting gear, the carrier is intended to mark a major leap in the PLA Navy's power-projection capabilities.

While participating in the training exercise, the Fujian, as per Beijing's state media CCTV, conducted multiple catapult launches and arrested landings with its ship-based aircraft, including the stealth fighter J-35, naval fighter J-15T, electronic warfare aircraft J-15DT, and early warning and control aircraft KJ-600, reports South China Morning Post.

The exercise was "a regular operational activity carried out in accordance with the annual plan," according to CCTV, and was allegedly aimed "to assess training outcomes and strengthen the armed forces' ability to protect China's sovereignty, security, and developmental interests".
Though CCTV did not specify the duration of Fujian's training mission, the exercise is widely seen as a key milestone before the carrier becomes fully operational.

Satellite images circulating on social media this week, however, showed the Fujian operating in the South China Sea, alongside the PLA Navy's second carrier vessel, the Shandong, marking Beijing's latest attempt to display its naval might, as part of its power projection campaign, underscoring its noted pressure and intimidation tactics.

The announcement comes amid Beijing's markedly high tensions with Tokyo, after the archipelago nation's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, addressing lawmakers on Nov 7, said that any hypothetical attempts by China to attack Taiwan would force Japan to use military force alongside the US military, as this would constitute a "survival-threatening situation," thus constitutionally justifying its use of force.

Expressing fury over the comments, Beijing sharply condemned Takaichi's remarks and summoned the Japanese ambassador in response.

Accusing Takaichi of "seriously damaging bilateral ties" and undermining the post-war order, China, since the diplomatic row has issued a travel advisory for Japan and cancelled a series of exchange events, further straining bilateral ties.

It also intensified its military rhetoric in parallel with its diplomatic offence, with China's Ministry of Defence warning Tokyo that any Japanese interference in Beijing's attempts at capturing Taiwan would result in Tokyo suffering "a complete failure before the steel-willed PLA."
The PLA Daily likewise published back-to-back commentaries cautioning that any intervention could turn "the whole of Japan into a battlefield."

China has long regarded Taiwan as an integral part of its territory, ever since the end of Imperial Japan's occupation after its defeat in WWII, and has vowed to achieve unification by force if necessary.

Japan, like most countries, does not officially recognise Taiwan as an independent state, though Takaichi's remarks have been interpreted as a significant shift away from Tokyo's previous strategic ambiguity.

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China renews yellow alert for typhoon Fengshen

Nysa Rajesh Warlekar — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 22:10:53 +0530

Beijing, 22nd October, 2025

China's national observatory on Wednesday issued a yellow alert for typhoon Fengshen, the 24th typhoon of the year, as it is expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain to parts of the country's southern regions.

As of 9 a.m. On Wednesday, it was located over the waters of the South China Sea, about 170 km west-northwest of Yongxing Dao of Sansha City, Hainan Province, with maximum winds of 33 meters per second near its centre, according to the National Meteorological Centre (NMC).
Fengshen is expected to move southwestward at 10 km per hour. Its intensity will remain steady through Wednesday morning before gradually weakening. The typhoon will make landfall over Vietnam's central coast as a tropical storm on Thursday before weakening rapidly, said the centre.

Affected by the typhoon, gales are forecast to affect areas including parts of the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, the Bashi Channel, the waters east of Taiwan, coastal regions of southern Zhejiang, Fujian, Taiwan and Hainan Island, and parts of the South China Sea, as well as the Beibu Gulf between 2 p.m. Wednesday and 2 p.m. Thursday, the NMC said.
Meanwhile, it said that some areas of Hainan Island and Taiwan may experience heavy rainstorms during the same period.

China has a four-tier, colour-coded weather warning system for typhoons, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

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5.4-magnitude quake strikes SW China's Sichuan: CENC

Nysa Rajesh Warlekar — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 22:39:08 +0530

Beijing, 9th October 2025

A 5.4-magnitude earthquake struck the county of Xinlong in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Sichuan Province, at 1:17 p.m. Thursday (Beijing Time), according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre (CENC).

The epicentre was monitored at 30.84 degrees north latitude and 99.86 degrees east longitude. The quake struck at a depth of 10 km, said a report issued by the CENC.

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