On 22 January 2013, the Republic of the Philippines, pursuant to Part XV of and Annex VII to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), initiated arbitration proceedings against People’s Republic of China (PRC). Arbitration concerned the role of historic rights and the source of maritime entitlements in the South China Sea, the status of certain maritime features and their maritime entitlements, and the lawfulness of certain actions by China. China, on the other hand, has consistently rejected the Philippines’ recourse to arbitration and adhered to the position of neither accepting nor participating in these proceedings. Arbitral tribunal on 29 October 2015 issued its Award on Jurisdiction and Admissibility and rejected China’s arguments that the dispute is about territorial sovereignty and maritime boundary delimitation. On 12 July 2016 arbitral tribunal issued a unanimous award in which it found China’s expansive maritime claims and actions related to it, in the South China Sea, to be inconsistent with, and in the breach of the Convention. Notwithstanding the decision of the arbitral tribunal on China’s maritime claims, the dispute remains unresolved, as China refuses to implement the award and continues with the construction activities in the South China Sea.
|
