South China Sea
The Permanent
Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands, has ruled that China’s
claims of historical rights over South China Sea (SCS) has no legal basis.
China has boycotted the hearings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, saying
it does not have jurisdiction to decide on the matter.
Flashback:
The case against China was
initiated by the Philippines. The Philippines formally lodged its arbitration
case under the United Nations’ 1982 Convention of the Law of the Sea, known as
UNCLOS, in January 2013.
What did the arbitration
panel rule?
The Hague-based PCA ruled
that China has no legal basis to claim historical rights to islands in the SCS,
and has violated Philippines’ sovereign rights. It said Beijing “had no
historic rights to resources in the waters of the South China Sea” and that
“such rights were extinguished to the extent they were incompatible with the
exclusive economic zones provided for in the Convention.”
Why is South China Sea
considered so important?
The SCS is a busy
international waterway, being one of the main arteries of the global economy
and trade. More than $5 trillion of world trade ships pass through the SCS every
year. The SCS is also resource rich, with numerous offshore oil and gas blocks.
So what is the dispute
about?
There are a few hundred
small islands in the SCS, a part of the Pacific Ocean. Some of the main ones
are Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands and Scarborough Shoal — the bone of
contention between China and the Philippines. China claims most of these
islands as its own. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have
rival claims. China has said it will not permit other nations to infringe on
what it considers its sovereign rights in the strategically vital area.
Implications of this ruling
ä States and territories with borders on the sea (clockwise from north)
include: the People's Republic of China (including Macau and Hong Kong), the
Republic of China (Taiwan), the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia,
Singapore, and Vietnam.
ä Major rivers that flow into the South China Sea include the Pearl, Min,
Jiulong, Red, Mekong, Rajang, Pahang, Pampanga, and Pasig Rivers.
No comments:
Post a Comment