MANILA – The five-member United Nations tribunal that will hear the arbitration case the Philippines sought over its territorial dispute with China is now meeting in Hamburg, where it will decide whether it has jurisdiction over the case, University of the Philippines law professor Atty. Harry Roque said.

Roque, of UP’s Institute of International Legal Studies, said the tribunal would have to “examine its own jurisdiction” over the case that the Philippines filed January this year over China’s objections.

He said the panel “would have to convince itself that number one, the case is covered by the compulsory and binding dispute settlement procedures of UNCLOS. That is, that the dispute involves only interpretation and application of UNCLOS,” he said…

Read more:UN arbitral tribunal on PH case vs China meets in Hamburg on jurisdiction