China has vowed to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty in the South China Sea and said it has the right to set up an air defence zone, after rejecting an international tribunal's ruling that denied its claims in the region.

The case, overseeing an energy-rich region that is home to also one of the world's busiest trade routes, has been seen as a test of China's rising power and its economic and strategic rivalry with the United States.

China's Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said during the news conference that China does not want to turn the South China Sea into "the origin of war", and that it aims to make it into "a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation." He also said the country hopes to return to bilateral talks with Manila, who brought the case to court.

U.S. officials have previously said they feared China may respond to the ruling by declaring an air defence identification zone in the sea, as it did in the East China Sea in 2013, or by stepping up its building and fortification of artificial islands.