The Second Quarter 2018 Social Weather Survey, conducted from June 27-30, 2018, found that four out of five adult Filipinos repudiate the government’s policy of doing nothing about China’s intrusion in the West Philippine Sea.
THE PRIMER is an initiative of independent researchers. The facts and analyses presented herein represent the authors’ own appreciation of published material and primary sources that were accessible to them during the course of the research. They do not represent any position of the government of the Republic of the Philippines, unless stated otherwise, nor […]
The South China Sea has been a shipping thoroughfare for at least the past two millennia. Apart from piracy and occasional acts of war, ships of all types and origins have been free to sail wherever they wished. Freedom of navigation through the South China Sea could now be at risk. Six countries lay claim […]
Abstract : Several authors writing about the Chinese claim to the Paracel Islands have dated the first official Chinese expedition to these islands to 1902. However, none of these writers have been able to show any records of this expedition taking place. In fact, Chinese records show that the expedition never happened. Instead, a secret […]
Who “minds the gap” in the South China Sea? The gap, that is, created in international law concerning the use of coercion or aggressive force and the right of self-defense of victim states. China exploits this gap in the international law on the use of force to compel its neighbors to accept Chinese hegemony in […]
China could trigger a paradigm shift in the disputes in the South China Sea if it were to issue charts indicating the outer limit of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) claims from the islands over which it claims sovereignty. A full effect ‘equidistance line’ from the largest islands towards the surrounding coasts would create a […]
For the first time, the United States government has come out publicly with an explicit statement that the so-called “nine-dash line,” which the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan assert delineates their claims in the South China Sea, is contrary to international law. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Danny […]
The twenty-third Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will be held at Headquarters from 10 to 14 June. Often referred to as “the constitution for the oceans”, the landmark Convention was adopted on 10 December 1982 and entered into force on 16 November 1994. Its 320 […]
China should be careful how it looks to the international community, according to Professor Jerome Cohen of New York University. The drama about the disputed Scarborough Shoal or Huangyan Islands had the Philippines seeking international arbitration from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS. The Philippines have said they acknowledge […]
On 22 January 2013, the Philippines officially notified China that it had instituted arbitral proceedings against China under Annex VII of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This paper will examine the role of UNCLOS and international law in the South China Sea disputes and will focus in particular […]