Beijing is getting ever-increasing backing from the international community for its stance on the South China Sea issue, with Kazakhstan adding its support on Thursday.

Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that Kazakhstan fully understands and respects China's stance on the South China Sea and believes that related disputes should be resolved through negotiations by countries directly concerned.

He made the remarks during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, which started on Thursday in Beijing.

On Wednesday, top diplomats from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus also said they fully understand and support China's stance on and approach to handling the South China Sea issue.

In the past few weeks, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Russia, India, Poland, Gambia and Fiji expressed support for Beijing's wish to resolve disputes in the South China Sea through dialogue and consultation by those directly concerned.

In January 2013, the Philippines unilaterally initiated an arbitration case against China in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague regarding its disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea. A ruling by the arbitration court is expected this year.

China said it will neither accept nor participate in the "tainted" arbitration.

By taking this position, China is upholding international law and protecting the law's spirit, said Fu Kuenchen, dean of Xiamen University's South China Sea Institute.

Zhu Feng, executive director of the China Center for Collaborative Studies of the South China Sea at Nanjing University, said that as more people understand what really has happened in the South China Sea, a growing number of countries will support China.

The United States and the Philippines are trying to start a diplomatic battle to force China to accept the arbitration ruling unilaterally initiated by the Philippines, Zhu said.

"I think what the US and the Philippines are doing only accelerates tensions and is not conducive to resolving the problem," he added.

wangxu@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 04/29/2016 page3)