Full coverage: South China Sea Is Indisputable Part of China

China's Foreign Ministry has rejected a statement by the Philippines in which Manila said it had tried every means to bilaterally resolve disputes in the South China Sea before it applied for UN arbitration.

"The Philippines unilaterally initiated arbitration in January 2013 without consulting or negotiating with China on the related issues, let alone exhausting all possible means of bilateral talks in resolving the disputes. It does not conform to the conditions for arbitration as provided by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea; nor can it play any role in resolving the disputes," said Hua Chunying, spokeswoman of Chinese Foreign Ministry.