MOSCOW (Sputnik) – China is not going to accept any proposition or action based on the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration decision on Tuesday in relation to the disputed islands in the South China Sea, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday.
In January 2013, the Philippines filed a suit against China, claiming that Beijing had violated the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) by its actions in the South China Sea. China refused to participate in the case.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to South China Sea resources and violated the sovereign rights of the Philippines in the country’s exclusive economic zone.
Xi noted that Chinese territorial sovereignty and maritime interests in the South China Sea would be affected by the court’s decision, the Xinhua News agency reported.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the court’s decision was "null and void" and Beijing was going neither to accept nor acknowledge it. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called the court’s ruling a "political farce" under the "pretext of law."