China Threatens To Leave UN Sea Convention If Court Invalidates Maritime Claims
The Philippines has been the most vocal critic of China’s activities in the South China Sea, and filed a case with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2013 in an attempt to invalidate China’s “nine-dash line”, China’s version of what territory it owns.
Here is a map showing different maritime claims each country has, many overlap each other.
Zoomed version
China believes the worst outcome would be for the tribunal to rule that Beijing’s claim over the sea has no international legal grounds, and invalidates its line.
From Kyodo News
China thinks the worst outcome would be for the tribunal, constituted by the 1982 convention, or UNCLOS, to rule that Beijing’s claim of “historic rights” over the sea has no international legal grounds and invalidate its expansive line, according to the sources.China has told some diplomats of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that it does not rule out withdrawing from the convention, often referred to as the constitution of the oceans, if that happens, the sources said.
Many experts believe that the ruling will not be favorable for China, which also has territorial disputes in the South China Sea with three other members of the 10-member association, namely Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
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