The international arbitration tribunal, constituted under Annex VII to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS”), issued its final Award on July 12th in the so-called “compulsory” arbitration instituted by the Republic of the Philippines against the People’s Republic of China. The Philippines had sought rulings on a number of issues, including the source of the parties’ rights and obligations in the South China Sea and the effect of UNCLOS on China’s claims to historic rights within its claimed ‘nine-dash line.’ The tribunal’s decision found in the Philippines’ favor on these two key issues, and most others that had been raised by the Philippines. The tribunal’s decision on the merits of the case followed its jurisdictional decision last October to hear the case in the first place. It had rejected China’s exercise of its right under UNCLOS to opt-out of the arbitration. China continues to reject the tribunal’s findings on several grounds, including China’s contention that the heart of its dispute with the Philippines was over competing sovereign claims to territory that was beyond the authority of the tribunal to resolve.

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