A senior Chinese official has said China has the right to set up an air defence zone over territory it claims in the South China Sea.
The statement from Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin comes a day after an international tribunal said there was no legal basis for China's claims.
China has overlapping claims with other countries to reefs and islands across almost all of the South China Sea.
It has already said it will ignore the tribunal's findings.
President Xi Jinping has said China's "territorial sovereignty and marine rights" in the seas will not be affected by the ruling "in any way".
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on Tuesday ruled against China in a case brought by the Philippines.
It said China had violated the Philippines' sovereign rights and had caused "severe harm to the coral reef environment" by building artificial islands.