Hague court to rule July 12 in South China Seas case

An international tribunal said Wednesday it will hand down a ruling on July 12 in a highly-watched case brought by the Philippines challenging China's claims to most of the South China Sea.

The verdict by the Permanent Court of Arbitration -- the world's oldest international tribunal for the peaceful resolution of disputes between nations -- could further inflame tensions in an already volatile row over the strategic waterway.

The court in The Hague said in a statement it had informed the parties that it would issue its ruling at about 11 am (0900 GMT) on July 12.

Beijing has built a runway on the Fiery Cross Reef, which is also claimed by Vietnam and the Philippines ©DigitalGlobe (CSSI/AFP/File)

The written decision will first be emailed to the parties, and then released to the press and uploaded onto the PCA's website.

Spanning more than three years and nearly 4,000 pages of evidence, the arbitration case in The Hague is extremely complex, and has already drawn anger in Beijing.

In essence, China claims most of the sea, even waters approaching neighbouring countries, based on a vaguely defined "nine-dash" Chinese map dating back to the 1940s.

The Philippines disputes this and -- while it has stressed that it is not asking the court to rule on sovereignty or to delimit any boundaries -- it has asked the tribunal to rule on other key points of the dispute, including Manila's contention that the "nine-dash" has no basis under international law.

The Philippines turned to the court, established in 1899, after 17 years of negotiations with China, saying it had exhausted all political and diplomatic avenues to settle the dispute.

But China refused to participate in the hearings, arguing the tribunal had no jurisdiction in the matter.

Tensions have been growing for years in the South China Sea, as Beijing has sought to expand its presence in what is a main maritime link between the Pacific and Indian oceans, giving it enormous trade and military value

Its shipping lanes connect East Asia with Europe and the Middle East, and over $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes through the sea annually.

Major unexploited oil and gas deposits are also believed to lie under the seabed.

China has also conducted massive dredging and artificial island-building activities in the Spratlys, dwarfing the scale of reclamation work of other claimants.

In April, the United States launched joint South China Sea patrols with the its key Southeast Asian ally the Philippines and amid growing US concerns over the tensions has consistently called for a diplomatic solution to the standoff.