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The Diplomatic Implications of Philippines-China Arbitration

By Richard Javad Heydarian | January 21, 2015 | Categories: China, International Law, Philippines

When it comes to the South China Sea, the year 2014 was a rollercoaster. With Manila’s arbitration efforts against Beijing gaining momentum, 2015 will present new challenges not only to Philippine-China bilateral relations, but also to the very credibility of international arbitration bodies under the aegis of the United Nations Convention on the Law of […]

Why Manila Shouldn’t Hope to Win It All in Arbitration

By Gregory Poling | January 21, 2015 | Categories: China, International Law, Philippines

The next stage in the Philippines’ closely-watched arbitration case against China’s maritime claims will come in March when Manila’s lawyers submit their answers to questions posed last month by the five judge panel overseeing the case. The Philippines has put together a clever case, one that seeks to skirt China’s exemptions to compulsory arbitration as […]

Blunting China’s Realpolitik Approach: Liberalism through UNCLOS Arbitration

By Renato Cruz de Castro | January 21, 2015 | Categories: China, International Law, Philippines

The 2012 Scarborough Shoal stand-off between the Philippines and China was the proverbial tipping point caused by China’s pattern of protracted, aggressive actions against the Philippines that began two years earlier. In mid-2010, the Philippine government had observed an increased Chinese naval presence and activities in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), recorded reports of […]

Legal Posturing and Power Relations in the South China Sea

By Matthew Waxman | January 21, 2015 | Categories: China, International Law, Philippines, Vietnam

One of the weakest military and economic powers in the region – the Philippines – took the strongest – China – to international court in 2013. The Philippines challenges China’s assertion of vast maritime claims over the South China Sea, pursuant to detailed rules and binding dispute resolution processes of the UN Convention of the […]

Enhancing Philippine Maritime Security

By Renato Cruz de Castro | December 23, 2014 | Categories: Philippines, United States, Year in Review

On 28 April 2014, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg signed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). The EDCA is not a new agreement since it merely updates and enhances the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty. It provides the framework by which the Philippines and the U.S. can develop their […]

Danger at the Second Thomas Shoal

By Bonnie Glaser | December 23, 2014 | Categories: ADIZ, China, Philippines, Year in Review

The South China Sea is likely to persist as a source of tension both between China and its Southeast Asian maritime neighbors, and between China and the United States in 2015. China’s land reclamation activities, which are taking place at six of the seven reefs under Chinese control in the Spratly Island chain, will advance […]

A Year for Optimism in the South China Sea?

By Nicholas Khoo | December 23, 2014 | Categories: China, Philippines, South China Sea, Year in Review

In recent weeks, the international politics of the South China Sea has seen a number of encouraging developments. At their meeting on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Beijing in November, Benigno Aquino claimed to have had a “meeting of minds” with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Also at the APEC […]

Intense Maneuvers at the Hague

By Matthew Waxman | December 23, 2014 | Categories: China, International Law, Philippines, South China Sea, Year in Review

In 2013, the Philippines instituted arbitration proceedings in the Hague against China over disputed South China Sea maritime claims – and in doing so it challenged legally of China’s nine-dash line claims over much of that area. Both states are parties to the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which allows for […]

Beijing’s and Washington’s Dueling Papers

By Gregory Poling | December 15, 2014 | Categories: China, Philippines, South China Sea, United States, Vietnam

Beijing has reached its December 15 deadline to submit its defense in the arbitration case against its South China Sea claims brought by the Philippines. That case, brought under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea’s (UNCLOS) compulsory dispute mechanism, is summarized here. The Chinese government has no intention of taking part in […]

Paper Melee in Philippines v. China Arbitration

By Jay Batongbacal | December 15, 2014 | Categories: China, Philippines, South China Sea, United States, Vietnam

Today’s deadline for the submission of China’s counter-memorial in the Philippines v. China arbitration has created a four-cornered melee of positions papers over one of the key issues in dispute, the legality of China’s nine-dash line claim. The United States weighed in first on December 5th with the release of its Limits in the Seas […]