Full coverage: The South China Sea Issue

The 5th World Peace Forum is underway at Tsinghua University in Beijing. The theme of this year's forum is 'The Order of Common Security'. Participants are encouraged to engage in open discussion of current global and regional security issues. And the South China Sea issue is proving to be a major topic of interest. China did not accept or participate in a disputed arbitration case on the South China Sea that began in 2013. And it has refused to recognize or enforce the tribunal's questionable findings. Vice-Premier Liu Yandong touched on the subject in her keynote speech at the forum's opening ceremony earlier today.

"The recent findings by an arbitral tribunal, on the South China Sea issue, in a case that was unilateral initiated by the Philippine government, lack legitimacy. The tribunal engaged in unlawful conduct from the very beginning, as it willfully expanded, overstepped and abused its mandate. It's so-called award is thus null and void and has no binding force," said Vice Premier Liu.