Ministry rebuts Manila's Nansha argument

The Philippines' attempt to label the largest of the Nansha Islands as a rock shows that its goal in initiating arbitration is to deny Chinese sovereignty over the islands, which is "totally unacceptable", Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Friday.

The spokeswoman was commenting on a recent report that "the Philippines and the arbitral tribunal are attempting to characterize Taiping Dao (Taiping Island), of China's Nansha Islands, as a 'rock', not an 'island'".

"This violates international law," she said.