Liberia: More Supports for PRC's Position in South China Sea Disputes

opinion

A United States law professor, Paul Gewirtz, and other international experts have detected the limits of Tribunal's decision in the South China Sea disputes and have joined calls for the matters to be settled through diplomatic means. They have strongly doubted the issues will be solved through the arbitration and want parties, especially The Philippines, to result to settlements through bilateral relations with China. Some have also spoken against interference of non-parties to the disputes.

China stresses the need for The Philippines and other parties to see peaceful settlements of the matters through bilateral relations, adding that the Court of Arbitration lacks legal jurisdiction over the issues. In a paper, titled: "Limits of Law in the South China Sea," Paul Gewirtz says, President Obama and many others have understandably raised hopes that the tribunal's decision will be a major step forward in providing a law based solution to the most contentious issues in the South China Sea. Law-based approaches are peaceful, offer the promise of fair and impartial application of rules, and can protect the weak as well as the strong. In addition, through application of law, legal tribunals can also provide solutions to issues that are otherwise unavailable because of political stalemate elsewhere. However, Gewirtz opines that examination of the issues before the tribunal and its most likely decisions demonstrate that the arbitration tribunal and law can make only a very limited contribution to resolving the South China Sea crisis.

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