Weekly News 28/1-3/2

-(The Brunei Times 2/2) China, ASEAN must boost dialogue, cooperation: Secretary-General of ASEAN Le Luong Minh has stressed China and ASEAN should further strengthen dialogue and cooperation and bring bilateral relationship to a higher level. China committed to peaceful development -(The JamesTown Foundation 1/2) Manila Ups the Ante in the South China Sea: While a final decision by the tribunal...

28/01/2013

Statement by Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario on the UNCLOS Arbitral Proceedings against China

On 22nd January, the Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines H.E. Ma Keqing was summoned to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs and was handed a Note Verbale by Philippine Assistant Secretary Teresa Lazaro. The Note Verbale contains the Notification and Statement of Claim that challenges before the Arbitral Tribunal the validity of China’s nine-dash line claim to almost the entire South China...

25/01/2013

test

Brunei Darussalam reportedly wants to pursue a binding code of conduct (COC) in the South China Sea as a priority during its chairmanship of Asean this year. The new Asean secretary-general, former deputy foreign minister Le Luong Minh of Vietnam, said in his inaugural speech at the transfer-of-office ceremony at the Asean Secretariat on January 9 that "Asean should speed up efforts towards an...

25/01/2013

Weekly Bulletin (14 January - 20 January)

China to strengthen combat readiness; Vietnam sovereignty documents on display; Philippines backs Brunei's code of conduct for disputed seas; Brunei to raise South China Sea issue at ADMM-6…

22/01/2013

China’s U-shaped Line in the South China Sea: Possible Interpretations, Asserting Activities and Reactions from Outside, by Tran Truong Thuy

China (and Taiwan) has circulated the map of South China Sea with the U-shaped line (or nine-dotted line) in different internal documents and publications since 1948. However, it was not until 2009 that, for the first time, the People’s Republic of China included it in an official international document, namely in the Note Verbal sent to United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf...

22/01/2013

Weekly News 21/1-27/1

-(Bangkokpost 25/1) Sihasak seeks South China Sea parley: Thailand will seek ways to bring about talks between China and the Philippines over their South China Sea territorial dispute. -(Philstar 25/1) Q&A: Why Phl challenged China’s sea claim

22/01/2013

Cooperation in the South China Sea: from Dispute Management to Ocean Governance, by Nguyen Dang Thang

The South China Sea (SCS) has long been of interest to scholars of international law and international relations.[1] But attention has been paid almost exclusively to the simmering territorial disputes in the SCS. While this is justified by the concern that such disputes pose a threat to regional peace and stability, that the management of the territorial disputes in the SCS dominates existing literature...

21/01/2013

The South China Sea: Ten myths and ten realities, by Rodolfo C Severino

All too often, the public discourse on the conflicting claims to territorial sovereignty and maritime jurisdiction in the South China Sea renders an already complex subject even more complicated. The mass media and some academic commentators, who should know better, help this trend along by perpetuating, in the face of the facts and realities, certain myths related to the disputes. Some of these myths...

21/01/2013

The South China Sea in legal perspective, by Hasjim Djalal

A.   Legal Perspective 1.    Customary International Law: a.    What are these: ·         Freedoms of the sea. ·         Cooperation between states. ·         Peaceful settlement of disputes.

21/01/2013

Deciding Sovereignty Disputes: Ownership Claims Over “Land Features” in South China Sea, by Capt Azhari Abdul Aziz RMN

Ownership of territory is significant because sovereignty over land defines what constitutes a state.[1] Additionally, as Machiavelli suggested, territorial acquisition is one of the goals of most states.[2] The territorial disputes in South China Sea have long plagued the relationship of nations in a semi enclosed sea and the disputes in ownership over some 240 islands, atolls, low tide elevations...

21/01/2013