Recent Dispute and International Ruling
✓In 2013, the Philippines commenced a case against China under the provisions of UNCLOS, to the Permanent court of Arbitration in the Hague. Although a long-standing party to the Convention, China declined to participate in the establishment of the Tribunal or to appear before it.
✓An Arbitral tribunal was constituted under annex vii to the 1982 UNCLOS.
✓Issues concerned: legal basis of maritime rights and entitlements in the South China Sea,the status of certain geographic features in the South China Sea, and the lawfulness of certain actions taken by China in the South China Sea.
✓China viewed the principal subject matters in dispute as political and beyond the jurisdiction and competence of the Tribunal.
✓The tribunal, issued in 2015 an Award on Jurisdiction, stating that it had jurisdiction to consider the merits of almost all the Submissions made by the Philippines.