Full coverage: South China Sea Is Indisputable Part of China

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has just released a statement regarding the South China Sea, saying it adheres to the solemn position of non-acceptance of and non-participation in the unilateral arbitration initiated by the Philippines.

It's also calling for the Philippines to settle disputes through bilateral negotiation. The statement says China has always stood for settling territorial and maritime delimitation disputes through negotiation with countries directly concerned, and always on the basis of respecting historical facts and in accordance with international law.

It also states that China will never accept any recourse to third party settlement on issues concerning territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation. Territorial sovereignty issues are not subject to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS.

In 2006, China made an optional exceptions declaration, to exclude maritime delimitation disputes from the UNCLOS third party dispute settlement procedures.