CHINA claims to have territorial sovereignty over the South China Sea. However, it is the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) that determines the status of the South China Sea.

The arbitral tribunal emphasized that it has no jurisdiction over the issue of sovereignty over land and indeed, the Philippines made it clear that it was not bringing the issue of territorial sovereignty of the Spratlys and Bajo de Masinloc before the arbitral tribunal. The Philippines well understands that it is the International Court of Justice that has jurisdiction over the issue of sovereignty over land.