Tusk admits facing difficulty in agreements with China over maritime disputes

European Council President Donald Tusk on Saturday admitted to difficulties with China in reaching agreements over the latter’s territorial disputes with neighbors in the South China Sea, and said the European Union will continue to defend international law.

“It is not easy to reach agreements with our Chinese colleagues while dealing with this matter; our chats have been difficult, hard, but also promising,” Tusk said at a press conference at the conclusion of the ASEM summit in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

The Chinese government had expressed its strong opposition to the South China Sea issue being discussed during the summit, which took place only three days after the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines regarding its territorial dispute with China in the region.

China, which sent Prime Minister Li Keqiang as its representative to the summit, has termed the verdict of The Hague court as ‘null and void’.

The European Council president said that the EU will continue to speak clearly and in defense of international law, including when it comes to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), on which The Hague court’s verdict is based.

Beijing claims sovereignty over practically the entire South China Sea, where it is embroiled in territorial disputes over the Spratly Islands with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei; as well as over the Paracel Islands with Vietnam and China.

Meanwhile, in the East China Sea, Beijing, Tokyo and Taipei have territorial disputes over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands.