China has made three reservations to the compulsory and binding dispute settlement procedure of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Of these, only two appear to be relevant to the Philippine arbitral submission against China involving the West Philippine Sea.

The first, a reservation on maritime delimitation, does not appear to be relevant because none of the prayers of the Philippines calls for delimitation. Instead, the Philippines asked the Tribunal to declare that China’s nine-dash lines do not have any legal basis under the UNCLOS.  The Philippines also sought for a declaration that certain low-tide elevations—geographical features that are only visible during low tide, where China has built permanent structures—cannot be the subject of title and hence, should be declared as part of the Philippine continental shelf. The Philippines also asked that the waters outside of the 12-nautical-mile territorial sea of the Panatag shoal be declared as part of the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone since these waters are within 200 nautical miles of the Philippines.

Read more: http://mst.ph/2013/08/08/chinas-reservations/