All the Chinese in the world should unite to defend China's sovereignty over the South China Sea in response to the ruling by a tribunal at The Hague, members of three Chinese groups said at a press conference on Tuesday in San Francisco.

In a joint statement, Chinese for Peaceful Unification-Northern California, Chinese for Peaceful Unification-West America, and Committee to Promote the Reunification of China-San Francisco said they firmly uphold the Chinese government's stance on the issue and urge all Chinese, including Chinese overseas and in Taiwan, to help defend the nation's sovereignty over the South China Sea.

The three groups are members of the Association of China Peaceful Reunification of the United States and Federation for the Unification of China in America. A total of 28 affiliated chapters of the two organizations all expressed their stances in different locations in the US on Tuesday.

The spokespersons for the three groups argued that the ruling on Tuesday failed to respect the historical facts, and the Chinese government was right to neither accept nor recognize it.

"We feel angered and oppose to the so-called ruling," said Youyi Wu, president of Chinese for Peaceful Unification-West America. "Chinese people's activities in South China Sea can be dated back to more than 2,000 years ago. Chinese were the first to explore the related waters."

He told the press conference that the ruling ran counter to the historical facts, and the dispute should be resolved by the concerned parties.

China would not allow the other unrelated countries to intervene in the dispute, said James Lee, president of Chinese for Peaceful Unification-Northern California.

"We overseas Chinese should support the Chinese government to seek a peaceful approach to solve the dispute through negotiations and consultations to maintain the peace and stability of the South China Sea," Lee said.

Chinese Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification-New York issued a statement with other Chinese communities in the New York area, expressing opposition to the ruling.

"Chinese on the East Coast firmly support the Chinese government and Chinese people's attitude towards the dispute over the South China Sea, which is no acceptance and no participation of the arbitration, no recognition and no implementation of the arbitration award; against settling the South China Sea dispute by adopting the method of arbitration," the statement said.

In Washington, the Union of Chinese American Professional Organizations (UCAPO) issued a statement on Tuesday against the arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines, which "over China's objections abuses the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)".

Contact the writer at liazhu@chinadailyusa.com