From January through May, the South China Sea dispute continued to trend in a negative direction. Consistent with the pattern of developments over the past several years, the dispute continued to be characterized by an action-reaction dynamic in which attempts by one or other of the claimants – most notably, China, the Philippines and Vietnam […]
On May 6, 2013, the Stimson Center and the Washington Foreign Law Society co-hosted a panel on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the recent action brought by the Philippines against China at the UNCLOS tribunal. About 70 people, from foreign media to U.S. legal scholars to diplomats, attended the panel […]
The twenty-third Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will be held at Headquarters from 10 to 14 June. Often referred to as “the constitution for the oceans”, the landmark Convention was adopted on 10 December 1982 and entered into force on 16 November 1994. Its 320 […]
June 25, 2012: Henry Bensurto of the Department of Foreign Affairs presentation of Philippine position. Download PDF: Bensurto_Presentation
The Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD), launched by the Institute of International Strategic Studies (IISS) in 2002, brings together Asia-Pacific defense ministers and experts from around the world to discuss regional security challenges and opportunities for cooperation. The 12th SLD convened in Singapore from May 31 to June 2. IISS Director General and Chief Executive John Chipman […]
Yesterday, the New York Times reported that China’s mapping authority, Sinomaps Press, issued a new map of the country showing 80% of the South China Sea as internal Chinese water. What’s at issue? Each year, more than half of the world’s annual merchant tonnage passes through the South China Sea as well as a third […]
While the attention of the Philippines has been focused on its conflict with Taiwan over the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine Coast Guard on May 9, little notice has been given to the arrival, just the day before, of three Chinese naval ships at the Ayungin Reef (Second Thomas Shoal), the gateway […]
Nine dashes, five judges, two contestants. It sounds like a reality television show. In fact, it is the rather obscure — but very important — beginning of a process to delineate fiercely disputed Asian maritime borders according to the rule of law, rather than the law of the jungle. The nine dashes belong to China. […]
While China’s brazen occupation of the Philippines’ Scarborough Shoal, located just 125 nautical miles from Masinloc, Zambales, has captured all the national and international attention, little has been mentioned about China’s occupation of the Philippine mining industry, an entirely different issue from the Filipino Chinese (“Chinoys”) domination of the Philippine economy. For example, one of […]
SUPREME COURT Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has been in the news lately because of his commencement address at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) Graduate School of Law a couple of weeks ago. Rightly so. His discussion of the issues involved in our West Philippine Sea (WPS) dispute with China (actually, both Chinas […]