De La Salle University Publishing House (DLSUPH)
The South China Sea Arbitration
by: Alfredo C. Robles, Jr.
Published and distributed by
De La Salle University (DLSU) Publishing House, 2019
ISBN 978-971-555-661-3
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND ARBITRATION
The South China Sea Arbitration, which marks the first time that the Philippines and China have been parties to a compulsory dispute settlement procedure, is a landmark legal case. The Tribunal tackled head-on critical issues in the interpretation and application of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea that other international courts have failed to address, particularly the compatibility of historic rights with the Convention, the identification of maritime features as permanently submerged or above water at high-tide, and the distinction between features that are fully entitled to maritime zones and those that are not. In addition, the Tribunal also had to decide on issues as diverse as near-collisions at sea, illegal fishing of giant clams and sea turtles, and the destruction of fragile coral reefs resulting from island-building.
The Tribunal’s task was rendered arduous by China’s refusal to appear before it. In these circumstances, understanding the Tribunal’s decisions is a challenging undertaking. China’s public relations campaign targeting the proceedings raised issues that the layperson could readily grasp, notably African states’ support for its non-appearance, the integrity of the judges, and the validity of arbitral awards. This book on Understanding the Awards and Debating with China aims to facilitate understanding of the South China Sea Arbitration by presenting detailed summaries of the two Arbitral Awards. The author rebuts the questionable claims raised by China’s public relations campaign and highlights China’s covert actions during the proceedings.
Alfredo C. Robles, Jr. is University Fellow at De La Salle University, Manila. He holds doctorate degrees in International and European Studies from the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and in Political Science from Syracuse University. He has taught at institutions in East Asia, North America, and Western Europe and published extensively on ASEAN–EU relations and the Asia–Europe Meeting in East Asia and Western Europe. He is the author of French Theories of Regulation and Conceptions of the International Division of Labor (Macmillan, 1994), The Political Economy of Interregional Relations (Ashgate, 2004), and The Asia–Europe Meeting (Routledge, 2008).