NST Leader: Code at sea?

Manila’s frustration with China, like that of Asean’s, is understandable. Pointing to its “nine-dash” line, China lays claim to almost all of the South China Sea. The Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam dispute that, claiming sovereignty over parts of it. The nine-dash line is also an issue for Indonesia and others, which find China’s claim infringing on what the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) calls exclusive economic zone (EEZ), an area that extends the sovereign rights (as opposed to sovereignty) of the coastal states to 200 nautical miles. The EEZ is important because it places the coastal states in a dominant position in managing the living and non-living resources adjacent to the coast, says Malaysian maritime scholar Associate Professor Dr Mohd Hazmi Mohd Rusli, lecturer at the Faculty of Syariah and Law, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia. A decade ago, the Philippines took its dispute with China to the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague. On July 12, 2016, the tribunal ruled in favour of the Philippines, stating there was no legal basis for China’s nine-dash-line claim. But China refuses to recognise the PCA’s ruling.