PCA: Philippines v China

As noted in our PH post on president Xi’s meeting with his Taiwanese counterpart, on 22 January 2013, the Republic of the Philippines instituted arbitral proceedings against the People’s Republic of China under Annex VII to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (the “Convention”), “with respect to the dispute with China over the maritime jurisdiction of the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea.” Thus, the inter-state arbitration entitled The Republic of Philippines v The People’s Republic of China is pending in The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). On 19 February 2013, China presented a Note Verbale to the Philippines in which it described “the Position of China on the South China Sea issues,” and rejected and returned the Philippines’ Notification. In its most recent (seventh) press release on 29 October 2015, the Tribunal Rendered Award on Jurisdiction and Admissibility and found that it will hold further hearings. The Tribunal constituted under Annex VII to the Convention in the arbitration instituted by the Republic of the Philippines against the People’s Republic of China has issued its Award on Jurisdiction and Admissibility. This arbitration concerns the role of “historic rights” and the source of maritime entitlements