Whose Sea Is It Anyway?: An Analysis of the Permanent Court of Arbitration's South China Sea Arbitration Decision
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Authors
Drawz, James
Issue Date
2022
Volume
12
Issue
1
Type
Journal Article
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Abstract
Beginning in 2014 the People’s Republic of China (“China”) began to convert several features in the South China Sea into artificial islands. Two years later the Philippines and China engaged in a standoff near the Second Scarborough Shoal resulting in the Philippines withdrawing from the shoal. However, the Philippines did not take this withdrawal lying down. Instead they invoked the arbitration proceedings under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS”) and took China to arbitration. This arbitration would lead to the creation of persuasive case law which elaborated the distinction between and island and a rock under Article 121 of the UNCLOS and find that China was in violation of the UNCLOS. However, China remains undeterred in its mission to expand its influence in the South China Sea. This article will propose one novel solution to this problem, the resurrection of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.However, these improvements did not prevent China’s delayed reporting or lead to better health standards in its wet markets. In short, China breached Articles 6 and 7 of the IHR and violated the right to health under customary international law. As a result, states could theoretically hold China accountable. But legal mechanisms like settlement, an International Court of Justice decision, or countermeasures will not help prevent another pandemic. Instead, states must encourage changes to the WHO’s informational and financial structure, demand a WHO compliance and accountability committee, amend the IHR to include a settlement provision, and improve state internal health laws. These changes will reinforce global health jurisprudence, which will help prevent or mitigate the next pandemic.
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Publisher
Creighton University School of Law
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