China's Chief Justice Zhou Qiang announced on Sunday that the country will set up an 'international maritime judicial centre' to protect China's national sovereignty, according to state media agency Xinhua.

The Chief Justice made the announcement while presenting a report on the Supreme People's Court's (SPC) work at ongoing 12th National People's Congress.

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"(We) must resolutely safeguard China's national sovereignty, maritime rights and other core interests", Qiang said. "(We) must improve the work of maritime courts and build an international maritime judicial centre".    

Zhou Qiang did not give any details about when the proposed judicial centre start working, where the court will be located or what kind of cases it would address.

China's plan to create a maritime judicial centre comes after the Philippines lodged a case with an arbitration court in Hague to make a ruling on the conflicting maritime claims of both nations in the disputed South China Sea.

Beijing has firmly refused to participate in arbitration case, accusing the Philippines of breaking arbitration practice.

"The Philippines ... has broken with the practice that arbitration should be mutually agreed," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said. "The so-called arbitration is tainted and gone astray and China is not going to honour it".

China is claiming a large part of the South China Sea, with a host of other neighboring countries like Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, staking competing claims in disputed sea region.        

In recent months, China has been accused of assertive actions after it built artificial islands in South China Sea. Tensions in recent weeks have escalated even more after China allegedly deployed missiles and fighter on Woody Island in the Paracel Islands. 

TagsSouth China Sea, Zhou Qiang, China Chief Justice, Supreme People's Court China