South China Sea

Author: Bill Hayton Ocean Development & International Law, Volume 48, 2017 – Issue 1: 17-34 The following are the excerpts of the paper: Abstract The recent award by an arbitral tribunal in a case brought by the Philippines against China gives lawyers reason to reexamine the historical evidence put forward by claimants in the South … Continue reading →

The following are the two documents issued on 12 July 2016 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration on behalf of the Arbitral Tribunal in PCA Case No. 2013-19:  The South China Sea Arbitration (The Republic of the Philippines v. The People’s Republic of China).   The Press Release: View the document at Document Cloud: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2990591-PH-CN-20160712-Press-Release-No-11-English.html … Continue reading →

On-the-ground report by Mai Thanh Hai Thanh Nien, 12 June 2016  Translated by David Ha and Trinh-Don Nguyen At the end of May and early June, the Chinese has not only accelerated the land reclamation and construction on the reefs forcefully seized from Vietnam since 1988, conducted surveillance activities around uninhabited reefs, but also stepped … Continue reading →

Authors: Andrew S. Erickson and Conor M. Kennedy, CNA Corporation, 7 March 2016. An important component of China’s local armed forces is the militia—an armed mass organization of mobilizable personnel who retain their normal economic responsibilities in daily civilian life. A reserve force of immense scale, the militia is organized at the grassroots level of society: its … Continue reading →

The Law of Naval Warfare and China’s Maritime Militia James Kraska and Michael Monti 91 INT’L L. STUD. 450 (2015) I. Introduction China operates a distributed network of fishing vessels that are organized into a maritime militia to support the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The militia is positioned to conduct a “people’s war at … Continue reading →

No, China Is Not Reclaiming Land in the South China Sea Carl Thayer The Diplomat Rather, China is slowly excising the maritime heart out of Southeast Asia. Ever since last year when satellite imagery confirmed that China was constructing artificial islands in the South China Sea, journalists, security specialists and even government officials uncritically have … Continue reading →

Several authors writing about the Chinese claim to the Paracel Islands have dated the first official Chinese expedition to these islands to 1902. However, none of these writers have been able to show any records of this expedition taking place. In fact, Chinese records show that the expedition never happened. Continue reading →

This study analyzes the maritime claims of the People’s Republic of China in the South China Sea, specifically its “dashed-line” claim encircling islands and waters of the South China Sea. Continue reading →

This article discusses the resolution of maritime boundary-related disputes by adjudication before international arbitral tribunals under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS). It focuses on pending arbitration proceedings between China and the Philippines over the activities that UNCLOS member State claimants to the Spratly and Paracel island chains in the South China S ea can undertake in accordance with UNCLOS and the difficulties arising from China’s refusal to participate in the proceedings. Continue reading →

Asia’s problem is China’s false memory syndrome Bill Hayton The South China Sea is where China’s ambitions meet American power and Asian nervousness. In the past few months armed Chinese Coastguard ships have rammed their Vietnamese rivals, blockaded Philippine outposts, disrupted Malaysian oil surveys and threatened Indonesian fisheries protection vessels. At the root of all … Continue reading →

China versus Vietnam: An Analysis of the Competing Claims in the South China Sea Raul (Pete) Pedrozo CNA Occasional Paper, 2014 This legal analysis was commissioned as part of a project entitled, “U.S. policy options in the South China Sea.” The objective in asking experienced U.S international lawyers, such as Captain Raul “Pete” Pedrozo, USN, … Continue reading →

Originally posted on South China Sea:
A Legal Analysis of China’s Historic Rights Claim in the South China Sea Florian Dupuy and Pierre-Marie Dupuy The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 107, No. 1 (January 2013) The recent turmoil created by the competing sovereignty claims of several countries over islands and waters in the South China…

Originally posted on South China Sea:
China’s “Nine-Dash Line” is Dangerous Zachary Keck The Diplomat The below paragraphs are extracted from the full article at http://thediplomat.com/2014/02/chinas-nine-dash-line-is-dangerous/ The principle behind China’s “nine-dash line” threatens the stability of far more than the South China Sea. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons China’s claim to 90 percent of the South…

Originally posted on South China Sea:
China Should Uphold International Law to Win Support from Regional States Carlyle A. Thayer People’s Daily Online How to Convince Regional States That China Has “Indisputable Sovereignty” Over the South China Sea? China’s top policy makers must have come to realize that China’s efforts to convince regional states that…

Originally posted on South China Sea:
Paracel – Spratly Archipelagoes – Historical truth International Workshop, Vietnam 2014 ? On June 20, 2014, Vietnam’s Da Nang and Pham Van Dong Universities co-organized the 2nd International Workshop on Paracel and Spratly Archipelagos under the theme “Paracel and Spratly Archipelagos: Historical Truths”. The workshop was attended by nearly…