South China Sea fears grow before tribunal rules on disputed islands | World news

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Fears are growing that there will be a sharp rise in tensions in the South China Sea in the next few weeks after an international tribunal delivers a ruling on disputed islands and reefs that Beijing has said it will reject.

"Of course, when the ruling comes out our friends in Philippines and in the United States will preach that the tribunal has binding power, and that China must obey the result. But surely we will be firm in saying that the results are illegal, that the tribunal has no binding power and China will not accept the ruling," said Liu Zhenmin, the Chinese deputy foreign minister who has been a lead negotiator on the issue.

He cannot ignore the increasingly nationalist mood in the country centred on the standoff in the South China Sea.

Fu Ying, a former ambassador to London and the chairwoman of the People's Congress foreign affairs committee, said: "The South China Sea is like a billiard ball situation. You hit one ball and you strike many others. And the US is very big billiard ball."

China lays claims to islands covering 80% of the South China Sea, inside a big territorial loop known as the "Nine-dash line".

Diplomats and military officials from the US and China held a "Strategic security dialogue" in Washington on 19 May, at which US officials said they had urged their Chinese counterparts to rein in their reaction to the tribunal ruling.

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