Full coverage: The South China Sea Issue

The decision by the arbitral tribunal to define China's Taiping Island as a rock instead of an island has been described as 'ridiculous' by scholars at a seminar in Singapore. They say the decision ignored the fact that people have lived and farmed on the island for centuries.

"Everybody knows Taiping is an island. But the arbitrators say it's not an island. It's ridiculous. If this is true, then many islands in the world will change and the world map will change," Zhang Junshe, vice-president of Naval Research Institute, China, said.

"If Taiping Island were a reef instead of an island, then many parts of the world map would need to be re-drawn," Professor Zheng Yongnian with National University of Singapore said.