Manila UN case means China may quit maritime pact
Security expert warns Beijing could withdraw from maritime treaty rather than be bound by its rulings on South China Sea disputes
A prominent Chinese academic says Beijing could withdraw from the UN's maritime treaty rather than submit to judgment on its disputed sovereignty claims in the South China Sea.
Regional security expert Professor Shen Dingli said the decision by the Philippines to refer its territorial disputes with China to UN arbitration demonstrated that it was "a mistake" for China to have joined the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) in the first place.
The more you sue China, the more China would [want to] quit the treaty
Shen, deputy dean of Fudan University's Institute of International Studies, was speaking on the sidelines of a forum last week in Manila, entitled "What is to be Done? Resolving Maritime Disputes in Southeast Asia".
He said that "how to make China not quit the treaty is in [the Philippines'] interests".
Giving what he said was a personal opinion, Shen said the Philippines had blundered by going to the UN International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea to seek judgment on the validity of China's "nine-dash line", through which it claims most of the South China Sea.
That claim is disputed by the Philippines, among other nations, and Manila filed the UN action in January.