Philippines vs. China

The Republic of the Philippines v. The People’s Republic of China
Logo of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
Court	An arbitral tribunal constituted under Annex VII to the 1982 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea
Full case name	An Arbitration before an arbitral tribunal constituted under Annex VII to the 1982 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea between the Republic of the Philippines and the People's Republic of China
Decided	12 July 2016
Transcript(s)	https://pcacases.com/web/view/7
Ruling
The tribunal ruled that China has "no historical rights" based on the "nine-dash line" map
Court membership
Judges sitting	Presiding Arbitrator: Thomas A. Mensah Members: Jean-Pierre Cot Rüdiger Wolfrum Alfred H. Soons Stanislaw Pawlak

Presiding Arbitrator:
Thomas A. Mensah

Philippines v. China (PCA case number 2013–19), also known as the South China Sea Arbitration, was an arbitration case brought by the Republic of the Philippines against the People’s Republic of China under Annex VII to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) concerning certain issues in the South China Sea including the legality of China's "nine-dotted line" claim.

On 19 February 2013, China declared that it would not participate in the arbitration. On 7 December 2014, a white paper was published by China to elaborate its position. On 29 October 2015, the arbitral tribunal ruled that it has jurisdiction over the case, taking up seven of the 15 submissions made by the Philippines.

On 12 July 2016, the tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines. It clarified that it would not "...rule on any question of sovereignty over land territory and would not delimit any maritime boundary between the Parties". The tribunal also ruled that China has "no historical rights" based on the "nine-dash line" map. China has rejected the ruling, as has Taiwan.

The dispute has been affected by the fact that, after Japan renounced all claims to the Spratly Islands and other conquered islands and territories in the Treaty of San Francisco and Treaty of Peace with the Republic of China (Taiwan) signed on 8 September 1951, it did not indicate successor states since China was not invited to the treaty talks held in San Francisco. In reaction to that, on 15 August, the Chinese government issued the Declaration on the Draft Peace Treaty with Japan by the US and the UK and on the San Francisco Conference by the then Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai, reitirating China's sovereignty over the archipelagos in the South China Sea, including the Spratly Islands, and protesting about the absence of any provisions in the draft on who shall take over the South China Sea islands following Japan's renouncement of all rights, title and claim to them. It reiterated that "the Chinese government of the day had taken over those islands" and that the PRC's rightful sovereignty "shall remain intact".