NEW DELHI: China blamed Japan for orchestrating the adverse South China Sea award by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, claiming 70 countries support Beijing.Speaking to TOI, acting Chinese ambassador Liu Jinsong said, “Out of the five arbitrators, four of them were appointed by a Japanese former judge of the international maritime court. There is a maritime dispute between China and Japan, so if the arbitration panel is appointed by a Japanese, its fairness and impartiality could be in question. Four of the five members of the panel are from Europe. The fifth is a Ghanaian but he is lives in Europe. None of them have paid a field visit to the South China Sea area. They don’t have a clear understanding of the situation there. Another detail is the five arbitration panelists are not doing this pro bono. They are paid by Philippines and other countries.”India and Japan on Thursday decided to work on a strategic maritime dialogue between the two defence ministries and bilateral exercises by the two navies as both countries expressed “concerns” over recent developments in the India-Pacific region. General Nakatani, Japanese defence minister, flew in to India on a virtually last minute programme, working out cooperative approaches with defence minister manohar Parrikar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Japan in November.China is trying hard to contain the reverberations of the South China Sea verdict. Liu Jinsong said, “The award will only make it more clear to the international community what is really going on behind this case, and what's the real purpose. We believe the real purpose of this case is to hype up the South China Sea issue and sow discord between China and its neighbours, to dissect UNCLOS and pick up certain articles and provisions to serve the purpose of a certain country.” Refusing to accept the verdict, Liu said, “China did not lose, as it had refused to participate.”Responding to speculation that China could declare an ADIZ on South China Sea, he said, “... It is within china’s sovereign right to set up ADIZ. China is not the first country to engage in a practice of setting up ADIZ, some other countries more practiced at it. Whether we set up ADIZ will depend on our evaluation of our security and threat. We hope we are not pushed to setting up the ADIZ.”China has invoked UNCLOS in its own maritime dispute with Japan, so its approach to the South China Sea dispute amounted to cherrypicking of international law. Liu said, “With Japan there are two issues, one sovereignty of Daioyu (Senkaku) Islands, other delimitation of continental shelf. The latter issue is covered by UNCLOS but former is not. In the South China Sea arbitration case, it is actually sovereignty of the Nansha (Spratly) Islands. This issue definitely should not be covered by UNCLOS. What is most problematic about this arbitration award and this proceeding is that it tries to determine the legal status of the maritime features before their sovereignty is determined.”On the face of it, China says the 500-page award does not concern with sovereignty or delimitation. “But legal experts and political leaders say every page and every word points to sovereignty, maritime delimitation. That’s very cunning. No one believes the act of the Philippines going to arbitration court is for fishing or livelihood issues. At the very beginning it has been made very clear by the Philippines government that their purpose is to find more support to their claims in the South China Sea. And this was made clear by the US lawyer hired by Philippines.”