Roundtable: the arbitral tribunal's ruling on the south China Sea--implications and regional responses.

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Author: Storey, Ian
• Date: 01 December 2016

Three and a half years after the Philippines took the unprecedented step of challenging the legal basis of China's expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea, the Arbitral Tribunal established under compulsory dispute resolution provisions contained in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and based at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, issued its final ruling on 12 July 2016.

The award was far more comprehensive and decisive than many legal experts had predicted: the Philippines won 14 of the 15 disputes under consideration. The Tribunal was not mandated to adjudicate on the sovereignty of hundreds of geographical features which make up the...