Newly-elected Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos has said that he would uphold an international ruling against Beijing over the disputed South China Sea.
He said he will not "allow a single millimeter" of the Philippines' "maritime coastal rights to be trampled upon." According to NHK World, he even pledged to "talk to China consistently with a firm voice."
This comes as a joint session of the Philippine Congress on Wednesday declared Ferdinand Marcos the winner of this month's election and confirmed he would become the country's next president.
He said his administration will hold talks with Beijing over their disputes in the South China Sea based on an arbitration tribunal decision. The 2016 ruling dismissed China's claims to almost all of the waters.
China also claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea and has overlapping territorial claims with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. It continues to increase illegal maritime activities in the South China Sea and the East China Seas.
Since 2014, China has continued to assert claims to a wide swath of the South China Sea, which is inconsistent with international law as reflected in the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention.
The United States and other members of the international community have been calling on China to conform its maritime claims to international law and to comply with the decision of the arbitral tribunal in its award of July 12, 2016, in The South China Sea Arbitration.
They have all asked China to cease its unlawful and coercive activities in the South China Sea.
Earlier in January, the US released a study titled "Limits in the Seas" that examines national maritime claims and boundaries and assesses their consistency with international law.
This study, the 150th in the Limits in the Seas series, concludes that China asserts unlawful maritime claims in most of the South China Sea, including an unlawful historic rights claim.
( With inputs from ANI )
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