What is South China Sea dispute?

In a major blow to China, Judges at an arbitration tribunal in The Hague today rejected China's claims to economic rights across large waters of South China Sea. Here is a brief account of what the dispute is all about:

A large part of the South China Sea of approximately 3.5 million square km area has been under territorial dispute between China, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei who have been claiming the water territory. 

It is noteworthy that the area is rich in natural resources like oil and gas fields. While China has been backing its claim of the South China Waters with with island-building and naval patrols. China claims the waters within its ‘nine-dash line’. Now China wants to negotiate directly with Phillippines.

China and the Philippines are among the signatories of 1982 convention which is regarded as the constitution that governs and stipulates the rights of countries in using the world's oceans.