The South China Sea Arbitration: Bindingness, Finality, and Compliance with UNCLOS Dispute Settlement Decisions

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-50
Author(s):  
Hao Duy PHAN ◽  
Lan Ngoc NGUYEN
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
South China ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
The South ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Binding Force ◽  
State Compliance ◽  
Dispute Settlement Mechanisms

AbstractOn 12 July 2016, the Tribunal in theSouth China Seaarbitration issued its final award. China rejected the ruling as “null and void”. The Philippines dismissed it as “a piece of paper” after initially hailing the ruling a “milestone decision”. The reactions of the parties concerned raise important questions about the bindingness, finality, and state compliance with UNCLOS dispute settlement decisions. This paper addresses these questions by dissecting China’s arguments that the award “has no binding force” and by examining the options available for promoting compliance with the award. The paper also considers the broader question of how states generally comply with UNCLOS dispute settlement decisions and evaluates the significance of UNCLOS dispute settlement mechanisms, including theSouth China Seaarbitration, in the absence of external enforcement.

scholarly journals Historic Rights in the South China Sea

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-225
Author(s):  
Qiang Ye
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
South China ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
The South ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Legal Implications

Abstract China has, without challenge, enjoyed and exercised certain rights in the South China Sea throughout recorded history. Those rights do not derive from the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; rather, they exist under customary international law and commonly known as ‘historic rights’. Recent interpretations related to those rights, however, remain highly controversial, which can be typically seen from the South China Sea Arbitration Case initiated by the Philippines against China. This article gives a case-by-case study based on China’s diplomatic positions on historic rights and compares them with certain international practice from an academic perspective; and then it examines the possible content and nature of historic-related rights enjoyed by China in the South China Sea and evaluates its legal implications on the dispute settlement approach in this region.

scholarly journals Military Activities in the UNCLOS Compulsory Dispute Settlement System: Implications of the South China Sea Arbitration for U.S. Ratification of UNCLOS

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 273-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori Fisler Damrosch
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
South China ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Central Component ◽  
The South ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Dispute Settlement System

The Award on the Merits in the South China Sea Arbitration between the Philippines and China (Award) is the first decision of any tribunalto interpret the provision of the 1982 United Nations Convention on theLaw of the Sea (Convention or UNCLOS) that allows states parties to exclude disputes concerning military activities from the Convention’s compulsory dispute settlement regime. That optional exclusion, embodied in Article 298(1)(b) of the Convention, was a central component of the strenuously-negotiated compromise between states that favored compulsory jurisdiction in principle and those that would have preferred a strictly optional system for third-party legal dispute settlement. Its availability has beencritical in enabling certain states to ratify the Convention and would be an indispensable condition of eventual U.S. ratification. For these reasons, the Award’s treatment of the military activities exception transcends the South China Sea dispute.

Navigating Through Narrow Jurisdictional Straits: The Philippines – PRC South China Sea Dispute and UNCLOS

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Zimmermann ◽  
Jelena Bäumler
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
South China ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
Arbitral Tribunal ◽  
Settlement System ◽  
The South ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Dispute Settlement System

Abstract In January 2013 the Philippines invoked the dispute settlement system under UNCLOS in order to resolve its long-standing dispute with the People’s Republic of China over the South China Sea and more specifically concerning Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands. The arbitral tribunal constituted under Annex VII UNCLOS, without the PRC taking part in the proceedings as of yet, faces a challenging task in deciding whether or not it has jurisdiction over the case submitted by the Philippines. This article therefore examines the dispute settlement system of UNCLOS with regard to the jurisdiction of the tribunal in the pending Philippines – PRC South China Sea dispute. While at first glance UNCLOS appears to provide for a comprehensive system of compulsory jurisdiction, a number of exceptions, either applicable ipso facto or by virtue of unilateral declarations made at the time of signature or ratification of UNCLOS, leave only a thin layer of jurisdictional grounds, if any at all, for the arbitral tribunal to deal with and eventually decide the South China Sea dispute between the Philippines and the PRC. This implies that the arbitral tribunal is facing intriguing legal questions in this highly political procedure, the relevance of which extends far beyond the case at hand.

Diurnal Cycle of Coastal Convection in the South China Sea Region and Modulation by the BSISO

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-53
Author(s):  
Weixin Xu ◽  
Steven A. Rutledge ◽  
Kyle Chudler
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
South China ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Total Precipitation ◽  
The South ◽  
Low Level ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Diurnal Cycles

AbstractUsing 17-yr spaceborne precipitation radar measurements, this study investigates how diurnal cycles of rainfall and convective characteristics over the South China Sea region are modulated by the Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Oscillation (BSISO). Generally, diurnal cycles change significantly between suppressed and active BSISO periods. Over the Philippines and Indochina, where the low-level monsoon flows impinge on coast lines, diurnal cycles of rainfall and many convective properties are enhanced during suppressed periods. During active periods, diurnal variation of convection is still significant over land but diminishes over water. Also, afternoon peaks of rainfall and MCS populations over land are obviously extended in active periods, mainly through the enhancement of stratiform precipitation. Over Borneo, where the prevailing low-level winds are parallel to coasts, diurnal cycles (both onshore and offshore) are actually stronger during active periods. Radar profiles also demonstrate a pronounced nocturnal offshore propagation of deep convection over western Borneo in active periods. During suppressed periods, coastal afternoon convection over Borneo is reduced, and peak convection occurs over the mountains until the convective suppression is overcome in the late afternoon or evening. A major portion (> 70%) of the total precipitation over Philippines and Indochina during suppressed periods falls from afternoon isolated to medium-sized systems (< 10,000 km2), but more than 70% of the active BSISO rainfall is contributed by nocturnal (after 18 LT) broad precipitation systems (> 10,000 km2). However, offshore total precipitation is dominated by large precipitation systems (> 10,000 km2) regardless of BSISO phases and regions.

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