Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs made an official statement that The Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration’s (PCA) rulings on the South China Sea were not valid and were not binding. The Philippines government submitted the issue of the South China Sea conflict to the PCA for international arbitration in 2013. However, China held that China cannot accept unilaterally submitted cases and that the Philippines abused the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). According to UNCLOS, China has the freedom to choose its own dispute settlement procedure. Both the Philippines and the PCA ignored the mutual agreement between China and the Philippines to resolve conflicts via peaceful political negotiations, which the Philippines confirmed multiple times. China called for the Philippines to keep its promise and come back to the negotiating table.
Source: Sina, October 31, 2015
http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2015-10-31/doc-ifxkhchn5747717.shtml