South China Sea: Beijing’s case against forced arbitration

China says a declaration it made a decade ago should have prevented the Permanent Court of Arbitration from ruling on the South China Sea disputes, and also justified Beijing’s decision not to take part in the Hague ­proceedings.

Even though the decision to ­ignore the tribunal’s ruling has raised questions about Beijing’s respect for international law, ­China insisted the international tribunal had no jurisdiction to ­decide the case.

Beijing’s main argument, presented in a series of official statements between 2014 and the ­release of a white paper yesterday, is that the South China Sea ­disputes are inseparable from sovereignty issues.

As such, the issues were ­beyond the scope of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea ­(Unclos), which the tribunal referred to in its ruling delivered on Tuesday.

The official documents from Beijing stated that the tribunal, formed under the convention, had no jurisdiction to decide issues of sovereignty.

In a lengthy article released by Xinhua after the ruling, China said it released a written declaration in 2006 that said disputes concerning maritime delimitation and other issues should not be settled through compulsory procedures without its agreement.