The Philippines has sought to debunk China's claims to disputed islands in the South China Sea, court officials said Monday as an international tribunal wrapped up a five-day hearing. Although Beijing has refused to take part in the hearing before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, judges have now given China until Jan. 1 to write a rebuttal to the case laid out by Manila in The Hague. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the whole of the South China Sea on the basis of a segmented line that first appeared on Chinese maps in the 1940s, pitting it against several neighbors.

China may rebut case until Jan 1. (2015, December 2). Manila Standard, p. A4.