An international tribunal ruled that, China has no legal basis to claim "historic rights" (sic) to islands in the South China Sea and has violated the Phillippines' sovereign rights.

The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) said in a statement, that, "The tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights within the sea areas falling within the 'nine-dash line'."

The PCA said Beijing "had no historic rights to resources in the waters of the South China Sea" and that "such rights were extinguished to the extent they were incompatible with the exclusive economic zones provided for in the Convention", referring to the U.N. Law of the Sea.

"China had violated the Philippines' sovereign rights in the exclusive economic zone by interfering with Philippine fishing and petroleum exploration, by constructing artificial islands and failing to prevent Chinese fishermen from fishing in the zone," the PCA said.

The decision was welcomed by Manila, which had lodged the suit against Beijing in 2013, but China reacted angrily, saying it "does not "accept and does not recognize" the decision.

The Philippines Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said minutes after the court in The Hague released its verdict that, "The Philippines welcomes the issuance today on the arbitration proceedings initiated by the Philippines with regard to the South China Sea."

On the other hand, the international ruling on the South China Sea, which went in favour of the Philippines was rejected by China.

The Foreign Ministry statement asserted that, “With regard to the award rendered on 12 July 2016 by the Arbitral Tribunal in the South China Sea arbitration established at the unilateral request of the Republic of the Philippines (hereinafter referred to as the "Arbitral Tribunal"), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China solemnly declares that the award is null and void and has no binding force. China neither accepts nor recognizes it.”

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Nandini