The Chinese Foreign Ministry has refuted western media reports that only eight countries truly endorse China over the South China Sea arbitration case.
At a regular news briefing on Tuesday, spokesperson for the ministry Hua Chunying said dozens of countries have shown their support and understanding for China's stance.
She said some countries did this with public written statements, and some privately.
"The media seem to be too keen on the South China Sea issue to miss those statements, unless they deliberately turn a blind eye to them," said Hua.
"I wonder if those media outlets ever counted how many countries stated their opposition to China's position in public or in written form. We hope that the relevant media outlets can report in an impartial and objective way, and be fair to China."
