Beijing recently included the nine-dash line—manifesting its sweeping claim over the entire South China Sea, which Manila disputes—in the design of its new passports. INTERAKSYON.COM FILE PHOTO
MANILA – The five-member United Nations tribunal that will hear the arbitration case the Philippines sought over its territorial dispute with China is now meeting in Hamburg, where it will decide whether it has jurisdiction over the case, University of the Philippines law professor Atty. Harry Roque said.
Roque, of UP’s Institute of International Legal Studies, said the tribunal would have to “examine its own jurisdiction” over the case that the Philippines filed January this year over China’s objections.
He said the panel “would have to convince itself that number one, the case is covered by the compulsory and binding dispute settlement procedures of UNCLOS. That is, that the dispute involves only interpretation and application of UNCLOS,” he said.
UNCLOS stands for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
If the tribunal answers yes to the first question, then it would have to decide whether its jurisdiction is not covered by reservations made by China, he said. Among China’s expressed reservations are on maritime delimitation and operation of law enforcement for purposes of sovereign rights.
If the court decides that it has jurisdiction, then it “will ask the Philippines to make its submissions, including factual evidence,” Roque explained.
The meeting would be the first for the arbitral tribunal since the membership to that body was completed in April, he added.
The meeting was delayed after one of the arbitrators, Prof. Chris Pinto “voluntarily recused himself from the tribunal because he is married to a Filipina.” Pinto is Sri Lankan.
Roque said “Prof. Pinto is a very close friend of the Institute of International Legal Studies, that’s why we consider it a big loss.”
Another member from a third world country, Thomas Mensah of Ghana, was named Pinto’s replacement.
Hamburg likely seat of arbitration
Roque said Hamburg will likely be established as the seat of arbitration.
The Philippines is questioning China’s “nine-dash line” as basis for its sweeping claims in the South China Sea.
The Philippines claims parts of the South China Sea and refers to them as the West Philippine Sea.
China, which insists on a bilateral solution to the conflict, rejected the arbitration in February, saying the Philippines’ case was legally infirm.
Along with 161 other countries, both the Philippines and China are signatories to the 1982 accord allowing them to seek legal remedy on territorial disputes.
Aside from the Philippines and China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have overlapping claims over the resource-rich waters.
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