Off the wire
• Sun Yat-sen's 150th birth anniversary marked in Tokyo  • WTO members hail Zambia over trade reforms: official  • China's energy consumption to peak by 2035: report  • 1st LD: Law-abusing tribunal issues ill-founded award on South China Sea arbitration  • Thailand expects huge earnings from foreign film industry  • AU sends assessment team in Somalia ahead of elections  • Zambians to march against violence ahead of polls  • Urgent: China refuses South China Sea arbitration award  • Full text of Chinese gov't statement on China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in S. China Sea  • China, EU hold 18th summit in Beijing  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD: China refuses South China Sea arbitration award

Xinhua, July 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

China said Tuesday it neither accepts nor recognizes the award of an arbitral tribunal in the South China Sea arbitration established at the request of the Philippines.

"The award is null and void and has no binding force," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea shall under no circumstances be affected by those awards. China opposes and will never accept any claim or action based on those awards, according to the statement.

"China has territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea," said a separate statement titled "Statement of the Government of the People's Republic of China on China's Territorial Sovereignty and Maritime Rights and Interests in the South China Sea", adding that China has historic rights in the South China Sea.

China is always firmly opposed to the invasion and illegal occupation by certain states of some islands and reefs of China's Nansha Qundao (the Nansha Islands), and activities infringing upon China's rights and interests in relevant maritime areas under China's jurisdiction, according to the latter statement. Endi