The Jurisdiction Of The Arbitration Tribunal Under UNCLOS-on The Dispute Between The Philippines And China Over The South China Sea

This essay discusses the jurisdiction of the international tribunal under UNCLOS on the disputes of the South China Sea between the Philippines and China.In the first part, the essay showed the facts of case and the dispute on jurisdiction between the Philippines and China.In the second part, the essay discusses the jurisdiction of UNCLOS. This essay mainly uses four cases for case study.(Bangladesh v. Myanmar, Bangladesh v. India, Ganna v. Cote d’lvoire and Mauritius v. Britain) By studying this cases, the essay tries to analyze how previous courts decided on the range of the "interpretation and application" of UNCLOS.In the third part, the essay discusses the jurisdiction of the arbitration tribunal of Philippines v. China basing on the facts of the case. According to the discussion, if a maritime delimitation case inevitably involves entitlement issues, these delimitation disputes are referred to as mixed disputes. Mixed disputes fall within the jurisdiction of UNCLOS. Whether South China Sea disputes belong to mixed disputes depends on the decision of the tribunal. Even if the dispute is within UNCLOS jurisdiction, further analysis suggests that the2006exclusion declaration gave China immunity from compulsory jurisdiction.In the fourth part, this essay then suggests that "negotiation" is currently the only way for dispute resolution. This essay believes that although there are multiple bilateral and multilateral documents stating that negotiation is the method for dispute resolution, it is not stated as the exclusive dispute resolution mechanism. Whether negotiation is exclusive shall be decided by the tribunal. However, according to Article293, there is an obligation to exchange views before submitting the dispute to the tribunal. This essay believes that the obligation to exchange views is not fulfilled.In all, the essay concludes that the tribunal under UNCLOS does not have compulsory jurisdiction on South China Sea dispute and negotiation is by now the only dispute resolution method.