In 2016, a series of developments in maritime-Asia drew international attention to the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, none more so than the Philippines vs. China Arbitration over maritime rights and jurisdiction in the littoral seas. On July 12, 2016, a tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at Hague passed a landmark on the matter, ruling that Beijing’s claims of historic rights within the nine-dash line are without legal basis. It further concluded that Beijing’s activities within the Philippines’ two-hundred-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), such as illegal ishing
and environmentally damaging artiicial island constructions, constituted and infringement of Manila’s sovereign rights.
In many ways, China had only itself to blame for the debacle. Beijing’s irst reaction to the Philippines’ legal appeal had been to ignore the matter altogether – as if not acknowledging the case would efectively delegitimise it. Given the high level of international interest in the afair, however, it was forced to make a course correction, issuing a position paper in December 2014 clarifying its oicial stance on the issue.1
Unfortunately for Beijing, its contention that Manila had violated the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) by iling a petition on a matter of ‘sovereignty’ and ‘territorial jurisdiction’ failed to convince judges at the PCA, who ruled comprehensively in favour of the Philippines.
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