Manila Ups the Ante in the South China Sea

Manila Ups the Ante in the South China Sea

By Ian Storey

In a surprise move on January 22, the Philippine government informed the Chinese embassy in Manila that it unilaterally would submit the two countries’ overlapping jurisdictional claims in the South China Sea to international legal arbitration at the United Nations (UN). Manila’s audacious move is a major development in the long running dispute as it marks the first time one of the Southeast Asian parties has resorted to legal means to challenge China’s expansive claims. If the UN tribunal decides to hear the case, any ruling it issues will have wide-ranging legal, political and strategic implications. While a final decision by the tribunal is likely to be several years away, in the short term, the Philippine gambit almost certainly will provoke an indignant response from Beijing, exacerbate strains in Sino-Philippine relations and set back efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to negotiate a binding code of conduct on the South China Sea with China.

 

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