China's foreign ministry on Thursday condemned the Arbitral Tribunal in The Hague for not being just and objective in a South China Sea arbitration case filed by the Philippines, saying the prospective ruling is not legally binding.

"Because the Arbitral Tribunal clearly has no jurisdiction over the present arbitration, the decision to be made by such an institution that lacks the jurisdiction to do so is accordingly not legally binding," Xu Hong, director general of the Department of Treaty and Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told media in Beijing on Tuesday morning.

Xu said that the essence of the arbitration is territorial sovereignty over several maritime features in the South China Sea, which goes beyond the application scope of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

On August 25, 2006, China submitted a statement of optional exception to the UN Secretary General that it rejects the arbitration on matters concerning territorial sovereignty and maritime interests under the rights entitled in Article 298 of the Convention.

However, an award on jurisdiction and admissibility released by the Arbitral Tribunal on October 29, 2015 said that the claims made by the Philippines were not disputes on sovereignty.

The document pointed out that the Tribunal was not convinced that the actual objective of the Philippines'claims was to advance its position in its sovereignty dispute with China.

Xu questioned why the Arbitral Tribunal turned a blind eye on Manila's actual objective, which the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs had described on January 23, 2013, the day after arbitral proceedings began, as "to protect our national territory and maritime domain." 

In order to establish that the claims of the Philippines do not fall within exclusions made by China in its 2006 Declaration, the Arbitral Tribunal opined that the legal status and maritime entitlements of maritime features are separable from maritime delimitation, Xu said.

He also noted that at least two arbitrators of the present arbitration, who previously held that the legal status and maritime entitlements of maritime features are closely linked with maritime delimitation, have reversed their positions.

The official did not name the two arbitrators.

Previous reports said that the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague is expected to decide in late May or early June.