IMOA
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Japan Is Quietly Building A Tiny Tropical Islet, But An Angry China Has Noticed
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Japan’s southernmost islet is so small at nine square meters it conjures up comparisons to boats and bedrooms. Curiously, the government in Tokyo has spent an estimated $600 million on infrastructure such as cement and steel breakwaters to prevent erosion of the tiny feature. It’s also cultivating coral to buff it up.…
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How to stop China from building military infrastructures on West PH Sea? Chinese Greenie has idea
ULAAN BAATAR, Mongolia — Experts, including Supreme Court Justice and principal proponent in the case Antonio Carpio, agree that the ruling of the international arbitral tribunal for the Philippines in its territorial dispute against China may not be enforceable. But a Chinese environmentalist has an idea on how to stop his country from building military infrastructures in the Spratlys: Use…
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Philippines wins trial of the century
The Hague ruling is binding and final, so China can comply or be branded as an outlaw in the region. “Nothing but truth in here and it was unfair,” lamented Aglaya Ivanovna, one of Dostoyevsky’s protagonists in The Idiot. This was essentially China’s response to a major legal setback, when an arbitration body at The Hague ruled against the Asian…
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Defending David Against the World’s Goliaths in International Court
“I consider the Reagan administration to be an anomaly in terms of respect for international law. The United States does have a history of complying with the judgments of the International Court of Justice.” PAUL S. REICHLER Credit Mary F. Calvert for The New York Times BEIJING — Paul S. Reichler’s first big break came in the late 1970s, when,…
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South China Sea: Vietnam detains activists after international ruling
Scores of activists have been detained in Vietnam’s capital as they gathered to protest against China who rejected last week’s ruling dismissing its claims to much of the South China Sea. Domestic critics accuse Hanoi of being too meek towards Beijing Anti-Chinese sentiment runs deep in communist Vietnam, but the country’s authoritarian rulers move swiftly to tamp down expressions of…
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Why a ruling that cannot be enforced still matters
It shows the Law of the Sea treaty provides a level playing field for states, big and small, to protect their legal rights. On Tuesday, the Arbitral Tribunal in the South China Sea disputes between the Philippines and China issued its long-awaited final award. It rejected China’s claim of historic rights within the “Nine-Dash Line”. It found that none of…
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What China Can Learn From the South China Sea Case
After a major diplomatic set-back, a look back at how China got to this point. The ruling by the tribunal in the Philippines vs. China arbitration case is no doubt a major setback to Chinese diplomacy. No matter how people evaluate the quality and impartiality of the ruling, especially concerning it is overwhelmingly in favor of the Philippine claims, it…
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China and UNCLOS: An Inconvenient History
As South China Sea tensions rise, Beijing rethinks its relationship with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The rising tensions in South China Sea, especially the arbitration lawsuit brought by the Philippines, have stimulated debate and research about China’s South China Sea policy, as well as about the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea…
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China’s problem with the rule of law
THE weak legal standing of Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea has never been in any doubt outside China’s borders. The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration’s (PCA’s) ruling on Tuesday rebutting Beijing’s claims vis-a-vis the Philippines is thus unsurprising, even if its sweeping nature exceeded analysts’ expectations. The course Beijing charts now will have implications far beyond the South…
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Why China cares about the South China Sea
China’s territorial claims are driven by a sense of historical victimisation. Salvatore Babones is a specialist in global economic structure. The judges have spoken: China has no legal basis for its claims to sovereignty over the South China Sea. China’s “nine-dash line” territorial claims, which cover most of the South China Sea, will not be recognised under international law. Vietnam…