China must show to the world that it respects the rule of law for it to be accepted as a responsible nation by the international community, a Foreign Affairs spokesman said in a new war of words with Beijing officials.
“China can end this South China Sea dispute by defining what the core issue is. [It] claims indisputable sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea through its nine-dash-line claim, which is an excessive claim that is in gross violation of international law,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez told a news conference Thursday.