The WSJ reports, "China has flatly rejected an approach from an international court in The Hague seeking Beijing's side of the story in an arbitration case over territorial sea claims brought against it by the Philippines last year.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration, which hears international dispute cases, instructed Beijing that it had until Dec. 15 to file its response to the Philippines' own 4,000-page submission, handed to the court in March, which argues that the Chinese claim to most of the South China Sea has no legal basis.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei confirmed at a daily news briefing Wednesday that Beijing had no intention of responding to the court's approach. "We are aware of relevant reports," Mr. Hong said. "We do not accept and will not participate in such arbitration."
The Foreign Ministry's rejection of the proceedings came as no surprise, with China's having refused to take part in the arbitration case ever since Manila first launched its legal action in January 2013. Beijing has sharply criticized the Philippine government for seeking legal recourse.
The Philippines' complaint against China comes under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, which both countries have ratified. China, however, didn't sign up to the treaty's arbitration processes, and it has always maintained that the best way to solve territorial disputes is through bilateral dialogue.
The countries engaged in disputes with China have expressed frustration over Beijing's apparent reluctance to negotiate meaningfully. Last month, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told a World Economic Forum meeting in Manila that his country had "exhausted all dialogue channels" with Beijing, with the Foreign Ministry in Hanoi confirming that it was weighing the possibility of legal action.
The Philippines has garnered international support for its legal challenge to Beijing's claim to most of the South China Sea according to the "nine-dash line," which roughly delineates China's claim but has never been publicly backed up by precise coordinates or any legal rationale.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, speaking to reporters during a visit to Manila on Wednesday, confirmed that the U.S. backed the Philippine government's bid to resolve its dispute with China through legal means, and criticized China's "provocative" and "dangerous conduct" in the region".
