BEIJING — Responding to an international tribunal’s decision to take up a territorial dispute in the South China Sea, The Chinese government reiterated Friday its hard-line stance of boycotting arbitration efforts.
The ruling by the Arbitral Tribunal is “null and void, and has no binding effect on China,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The Philippines had filed a complaint in January 2013 against Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea. The tribunal, under the auspices of the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, ruled against the Chinese side Thursday.
Chinese sovereignty and rights in the South China Sea are grounded in history and protected under international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Beijing insisted in its statement.