Key rulings to watch out for in South China Sea case
by South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
Key points to watch out for in July 12’srulings by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Hague and what they might imply.
Will Taiping Island be downgraded to a “rock”?
If the PCA mentions Taiping, or Itu Aba, in its final award, and furthermore concludes it is a “rock”, it will mean there is hardly a single “island” among the more than 100 land features in the Spratly Islands archipelago. Does that mean they should be renamed the Spratly Rocks?
Taiping is the largest natural feature in the Spratlys, with an area of about half a square kilometre. It has been occupied by the Republic of China (ROC) government, based in Taipei, since 1956, while also being claimed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) government in Beijing, the Philippines and Vietnam.
A maritime feature classified as a rock carries with it entitlement to a territorial sea extending out 12 nautical miles, but does not get an exclusive economic zone (EEZ), with a radius of 200 nautical miles, or further rights.
If no feature in the Spratlys is entitled to an EEZ, the surrounding countries – the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam – could each simply draw EEZ lines from their own major islands or coasts into that part of the South China Sea and claim the respective rights. But if Taiping is considered an island, the ROC and PRC, which inherited the ROC’s territorial claims in 1949, would enjoy EEZ rights around it, giving them overlapping EEZ claims in the South China Sea with the Philippines and other claimants.
Taiping is occupied by the ROC, which is not recognised as sovereign country by the United Nations, the PCA, or either of the parties involved in the case. They all consider Taiwan part of the PRC, so even without physically occupying Taiping, Beijing could still claim its EEZ.
Indeed, in its official response to the case brought by the Philippines, Beijing said in 2014 that Manila had violated the “one China” principle by deliberately excluding Taiping from “Chinese occupied or controlled” islands in its requests to the PCA.
Taiping is only 199 nautical miles from the Philippines’ Palawan Island but the Taiping issue was not included in the first Philippine submissions and was instead raised in merit hearings late last year, after the release of Beijing’s 2014 position paper.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1987129/key-rulings-watch-out-south-china-sea-case
