One of China's top policymaking research centers denied having a relationship with a Beijing-based think tank after Net users criticized some of its scholars for claiming the nine-dash line is "baseless" at a seminar in 2012.
"There's no relationship between Unirule Institute of Economics and the Development Research Center of the State Council (DRC)," read an announcement released on the DRC's official website on Saturday.
"The DRC has nothing to do with the institute's activities, including its discussion on the South China See issue."
Unirule, established in 1993, claims its scholars hail from top universities and government departments including the DRC, the State Development and Planning Commission and some other top finance organizations, according to an introduction on its official website.
Following the award of the UN tribunal on the South China Sea in July, several political bloggers on Sina Weibo looking into the background of the ruling began criticizing Unirule for several actions, including its organization of a June 2012 seminar on the South China Sea.
At this meeting, some maritime experts objected to China's recognition of the nine-dash line, which demarcates China's territorial claims in the South China Sea, a blogger named Wang Sitie wrote in his Sina blog.
"The nine-dash line on the South China Sea is not real," Li Linghua, a research fellow from the National Marine Data and Information Service, said at the seminar, according to a report by Vietnamese newspaper Thanh Nien Daily in 2012.
Online commentator Li Yang has posted several articles on his Sina Weibo account since 2012 questioning Unirule's loyalty to China.
Li particularly pointed out that the institute has received funds from policymaking organizations with close ties to the US government and foreign groups.
According to its website, Unirule has various types of cooperative relationships with both private and public international organizations.
The institute had not responded publicly to the DRC's statement as of press time on Sunday.
