Pathways to reconcile claims over South China Sea isles

TWO and a half years after the Philippines first sought international arbitration in its disputes with China over the South China Sea, the first hearings were finally held in The Hague this month by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, despite China's refusal to take part and its contention that the tribunal lacks jurisdiction. China's Foreign Ministry last December published a "position paper" explaining its rejection.

On July 13 this year, at the end of its week-long hearings, the arbitral tribunal issued a press release saying that although China refuses to participate, the five-man tribunal "considered the communications by China to constitute, in effect, a plea" that the Philippines' submissions fall outside of the tribunal's jurisdiction. It promised to rule on the jurisdiction issue soon and, in any event, no later than the end of this year.

The next day, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman reasserted that "China will never accept any imposed solution or unilaterally resorting to a third-party settlement". However, a senior American official, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel, said in a major speech last week that if the tribunal rules that it has jurisdiction and subsequently makes a decision on the case, then "both the Philippines and China are obligated to abide by whatever decision may be rendered in the case, whether they like it or not".