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Beijing South China Sea claims rejected by court
12 July 2016
China
Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands
Image caption China has accelerated construction on some disputed reefs
An international tribunal has ruled against Chinese claims to rights in the South China Sea, backing a case brought by the Philippines.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration said there was no evidence that China had historically exercised exclusive control over the waters or resources.
China called the ruling "ill-founded" and says it will not be bound by it.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including reefs and islands also claimed by others.
The tribunal in The Hague said China had violated the Philippines' sovereign rights. It also said China had caused "severe harm to the coral reef environment" by building artificial islands.
China's Island Factory
Mysteries and maritime claims
In pictures: How the ruling affects the livelihood of Filipino fishermen
Why is the South China Sea contentious?
Flying close to China's new islands
Rivalries underneath the South China Sea
The ruling came from an arbitration tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which both countries have signed.
The ruling is binding but the tribunal, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, has no powers of enforcement.
The US sent an aircraft carrier and fighter jets to the region ahead of the ruling, prompting an angry editorial in the Global Times, a strongly nationalist state-run newspaper, calling for the US to prepare for "military confrontation".
Meanwhile, the Chinese Navy has been carrying out exercises near the disputed Paracel islands.
Map showing the South China Sea
Philippe Sands, a lawyer for the Philippines in the case, said it was a "clear and unanimous judgement that upholds the rule of law and the rights claimed by the Philippines".
He called it a "definitive ruling on which all states can place reliance".
However, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua said that "as the panel has no jurisdiction, its decision is naturally null and void".
The tribunal was ruling on seven of 15 points brought by the Philippines. Among the key findings were:
Fishermen from the Philippines and China both had fishing rights around the disputed Scarborough Shoal area, and China had interfered by restricting access
China had "destroyed evidence of the natural condition of features in the South China Sea" that formed part of the dispute
Transient use of features above water did not constitute inhabitation - one of the key conditions for claiming land rights of 200 nautical miles, rather than the 12 miles granted for reefs.
line
Rocks, reefs or islands - what is the difference?
Low-tide elevations, or reefs, which are visible only at low tide, get no territorial waters,
Rocks, which are defined as anything above water at high tide regardless of size, get a 12-nautical mile limit of water around them
An island, which is able to "sustain human habitation or an economic life of its own", is given a 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone around it.
Chak De India
12 July 2016
China
Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands
Image caption China has accelerated construction on some disputed reefs
An international tribunal has ruled against Chinese claims to rights in the South China Sea, backing a case brought by the Philippines.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration said there was no evidence that China had historically exercised exclusive control over the waters or resources.
China called the ruling "ill-founded" and says it will not be bound by it.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including reefs and islands also claimed by others.
The tribunal in The Hague said China had violated the Philippines' sovereign rights. It also said China had caused "severe harm to the coral reef environment" by building artificial islands.
China's Island Factory
Mysteries and maritime claims
In pictures: How the ruling affects the livelihood of Filipino fishermen
Why is the South China Sea contentious?
Flying close to China's new islands
Rivalries underneath the South China Sea
The ruling came from an arbitration tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which both countries have signed.
The ruling is binding but the tribunal, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, has no powers of enforcement.
The US sent an aircraft carrier and fighter jets to the region ahead of the ruling, prompting an angry editorial in the Global Times, a strongly nationalist state-run newspaper, calling for the US to prepare for "military confrontation".
Meanwhile, the Chinese Navy has been carrying out exercises near the disputed Paracel islands.
Map showing the South China Sea
Philippe Sands, a lawyer for the Philippines in the case, said it was a "clear and unanimous judgement that upholds the rule of law and the rights claimed by the Philippines".
He called it a "definitive ruling on which all states can place reliance".
However, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua said that "as the panel has no jurisdiction, its decision is naturally null and void".
The tribunal was ruling on seven of 15 points brought by the Philippines. Among the key findings were:
Fishermen from the Philippines and China both had fishing rights around the disputed Scarborough Shoal area, and China had interfered by restricting access
China had "destroyed evidence of the natural condition of features in the South China Sea" that formed part of the dispute
Transient use of features above water did not constitute inhabitation - one of the key conditions for claiming land rights of 200 nautical miles, rather than the 12 miles granted for reefs.
line
Rocks, reefs or islands - what is the difference?
Low-tide elevations, or reefs, which are visible only at low tide, get no territorial waters,
Rocks, which are defined as anything above water at high tide regardless of size, get a 12-nautical mile limit of water around them
An island, which is able to "sustain human habitation or an economic life of its own", is given a 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone around it.
Chak De India
