Arbitration Concerning the South China Sea: Philippines versus China, edited by Wu Shicun, President of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, and Zou Keyuan, Professor of Law at the University of Central Lancashire, was recently published by Routledge in the United Kingdom.
On January 22, 2013, Department of Foreign Affairs(Philippines) notified the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Philippines that the Philippines filed a declaration of arbitration on the dispute between China and the Philippines over “maritime jurisdiction” in the South China Sea pursuant to Article 287 and Annex VII of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (hereinafter referred to as “the Convention”). Subsequently, the Chinese government has repeatedly and solemnly stated that it does not accept or participate in the arbitration initiated by the Philippines. This position of the Chinese side has made the application of certain procedural rules possible. According to Article 9 of Annex VII of the UNCLOS, if the absence of one of the parties to the dispute or the failure to defend the case shall not prevent the proceedings from proceeding, the arbitral tribunal must, before making its award, ascertain not only that jurisdiction over the dispute is established, but also that the claim is well founded in fact and in law. At this stage, the arbitral tribunal must take full account of the position of the Chinese side. The articles in this book are written by leading scholars from Asia, Europe, and North America and are intended to address issues related to the South China Sea arbitration. The book covers the following five areas: the origin and development of the South China Sea dispute, the jurisdiction and admissibility of the arbitration, the relationship between international arbitration and dispute resolution, the legal issues involved in the case (e.g., the legal status of the nine-dotted line, the rocky reefs, and the low-tide plateau), and the implications of the arbitration for regional maritime security.
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Shicun Wu, PhD in History, is President of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, and Deputy Director of the National Collaborative Center of South China Sea Studies, Nanjing University. Dr Wu's research interests cover the history and geography of the South China Sea, maritime delimitation, maritime economy, international relations and regional security strategy. Keyuan Zou is Harris Professor of International Law at the Lancashire Law School of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), United Kingdom. He specializes in international law, in particular law of the sea and international environmental law.