Peace road accessible
“A problem with plucking the award’s fruit of peace lies with China, which has stubbornly refused to honor the ruling and declared it illegal despite being a UNCLOS signatory.
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“A problem with plucking the award’s fruit of peace lies with China, which has stubbornly refused to honor the ruling and declared it illegal despite being a UNCLOS signatory.
The long-sought peaceful resolution to the West Philippine Sea dispute is already available to the contending claimants through the 2016 United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration decision.
Beijing is the only nation that calls the tribunal award illegal, only because it refused participation.
The ruling was considered a legal victory for the Philippines, but beyond that, it offered a way for a peaceful resolution of the maritime conflict.
The award resolved nagging issues by invalidating the so-called "nine-dash line" and China's claim to historic rights in the WPS, addressing the status of certain maritime features and declaring the illegality of Chinese activities in the disputed seas.
The arbitral tribunal, however, did not delve into territorial sovereignty, which means that it did not decide who owned maritime. It did not define boundaries between the Philippines and China.
While China has refused to submit to third-party arbitration, other nations considered the value of the ruling.
Christine Pichel Medina, an expert on international law at The Graduate Institute, Geneva said the PCA decision has offered a resolution to the territorial friction since it clarified the respective rights and obligations of both China and the Philippines, thereby facilitating their further relations and the tribunal's findings might have an impact on policy considerations and decision-making of other states as it clarified legal issues in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS.
She indicated that the international tribunal's key points offered a path forward to solve the problem between China and the Philippines while having a long-term effect on other claimants, which will still be seen in the coming years.
A problem with plucking the award's fruit of peace lies with China, which has stubbornly refused to honor the ruling and declared it illegal despite being a UNCLOS signatory.
On 22 January 2013, the Philippines instituted arbitral proceedings against China to clarify "maritime entitlements" and the legality of Chinese activities in the South China Sea.
In response, by a diplomatic note dated 19 February 2013 addressed to the Philippines, China rejected the arbitration.
In China's view, the PCA based in The Hague did not have jurisdiction because China's acceptance of dispute settlement under UNCLOS, the basis of the complaint, was limited and excluded sea boundary delimitations and the determination of historical titles.
Since then, China has continuously refused to accept or participate in the proceedings.
The tribunal, however, did not see this as impeding the process, and on 29 October 2015, it delivered its first award finding that it had jurisdiction, and on 12 July 2016, it ruled on the merits of the dispute.
The tribunal addressed whether China's claims to historic rights within the "nine-dash line" conformed with UNCLOS.
The tribunal found that the convention does not permit the preservation of the historic rights of any state within the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf of another state.
After the entry into force of UNCLOS, the tribunal concluded that China's claims were contrary to the international pact and exceeded the geographic limits under the convention.
Another landmark decision of the PCA is that China's reclamation work and its maintenance of military or governmental personnel or civilians cannot enhance a feature's status from rock or an outcrop to a fully entitled island capable of generating an EEZ and a CS.
Thus, regarding the construction of artificial islands, installations, and structures at Mischief Reef, which is part of the country's EEZ and CS, without the authorization of the Philippines, the tribunal also found China to have violated UNCLOS.
Thus, China can catalyze lasting peace in the region by accepting the arbitral award that most nations are now using as a reference.
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