Power Shifts and International Law: The Geopolitics of the South China Sea Dispute and Its Implications for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (original) (raw)

Power Shifts and International Law: The Geopolitics of the South China Sea Dispute and Its Implications for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

Capturing worldwide attention, the ruling on the Philippine v. China case about the South China Sea (SCS) dispute was released on 12 July 2016. The decision went largely to Manila’s favor. Against the backdrop of the Sino-American rivalry, the SCS dispute has placed at the forefront the viability of international law, specifically the United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), in promoting guidelines on maritime issues and the pacific settlement of disputes. As an exploratory study, this paper aims to discuss the implications of the SCS dispute, as the operational theater of the emerging power shifts in the APR, for the UNCLOS. Specifically, this article seeks to address the following questions: (1) How do power shifts affect the development and efficacy of international law? (2) What does control of the SCS mean for regional power shifts; (3) How does the Philippines use UNCLOS to resolve portions of the dispute to clarify maritime entitlements and sovereign rights, and how does China respond to the legal challenge posed by the Philippines?; and (4) What are the possible implications of the geopolitical dynamics of the SCS for UNCLOS as a legal framework for maritime issues including pacific settlement of maritime disputes? http://www.ndcp.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/publications/3.%20EPB%20re%20Power%20Shifts%20and%20International%20Law\_v2.pdf