In July 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague ruled on a claim brought against China by the Philippines under UNCLOS, ruling in favor of the Philippines on almost every count. While China is a signatory to the treaty establishing the tribunal, it refuses to accept the court's authority.
On July 12, 2016, the arbitral tribunal adjudicating the Philippines' case against China in the South China Sea ruled overwhelmingly in favor of the Philippines, determining that major elements of China's claim—including its nine-dash line, recent land reclamation activities, and other activities in Philippine waters— ...
On July 12, 2016, the arbitral tribunal adjudicating the Philippines' case against China in the South China Sea ruled overwhelmingly in favor of the Philippines, determining that major elements of China's claim—including its nine-dash line, recent land reclamation activities, and other activities in Philippine waters— ...
On 29 October 2015, the PCA published the award by the arbitral tribunal on Jurisdiction and Admissibility for the case. The award favored the Philippines on most of its contentions. The tribunal found that it has jurisdiction to consider the following seven Philippines' Submissions.
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration issued a decision confirming that the Philippines has sovereign rights over its 200 miles Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the West Philippine Sea.
West Philippine Sea (Filipino: Kanlurang Dagat ng Pilipinas; or Karagatang Kanlurang Pilipinas; abbreviated as WPS) is the designation by the government of the Philippines to the parts of the South China Sea that are included in the country's exclusive economic zone.
Philippine stance Its position was that because most of the features in the South China Sea, such as most of the Spratly Islands, cannot sustain life, they cannot be given their own continental shelf as defined in the convention.
In 2016, the Philippines won the case, and the international court effectively invalidated the dash line. Beginning in 2015, China's People's Liberation Army Air Force began patrolling the South China Sea, including the disputed Paracel and Spratly Islands.
In its final Award, the Tribunal found that it had jurisdiction to decide all of the Philippines' claims except those relating to certain military activities (which were also excluded from the Tribunal's jurisdiction pursuant to China's 2006 declaration under Article 298 of UNCLOS).
Bilateral ties took a downturn when the Philippine government filed an arbitration case against China under the United Na-tional Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in January 2013 challenging the legality of China's nine-dash line claim over the contested waters.