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 China claims almost the entire South China Sea, believed to have
huge deposits of oil and gas. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the waters, through which
about $5 trillion in trade is shipped every year.
China refuses to recognize the case lodged by the Philippines with
the tribunal and says all disputes should be resolved through
bilateral talks.
"The Philippines, as well as the international community, is asking
China to respect the forthcoming ruling of the arbitral tribunal and
together advance an international rules-based regime," Philippine
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said in a statement in Manila.
"If China does not heed our collective call, does it mean that China
considers itself above the law?"
 The tribunal's ruling was expected before May, said del Rosario.
Manila and Beijing had met several times to discuss maritime
disputes but nothing had been resolved, he added.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei repeated on Monday that
China would not participate in the case. Chinese Foreign Minister
Wang Yi, on a visit to the United States last week, accused the
Philippines of "political provocation" in seeking arbitration to
resolve the dispute.
Wang held talks last week with his counterpart, U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry, who said China was rapidly militarizing the
waterway after building artificial islands and deploying fighters
and missiles.
Wang defended China's actions as self-defense but said it would
remain open for two-way talks with countries claiming the South
China Sea.
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The Philippines and Japan, which has its own territorial dispute
with China in the East China Sea, on Monday signed a military
agreement allowing the transfer of aircraft and equipment to the
Philippines.
Japan is ready to lease at least five TC-90 King Air planes to the
Philippines as a training aircraft for surveillance and
reconnaissance, a military official said.
The Philippines has expressed interest in getting old P3C-Orion
planes from Japan after it started using the sophisticated P1
surveillance aircraft, the equivalent of the US Navy's P8 Poseidon.
(Reporting by Manuel Mogato; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard
in BEIJING; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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