China chalks up success in push to promote favoured candidates on international bodies

The country’s representative has secured another term on a leading UN maritime body that rules on important economic and political disputes

However, one legal expert cautioned that it was unlikely to boost the country’s claims over the South China Sea

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Tang Yong was reelected to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. Photo: Handout

Published: 10:00pm, 19 Jun 2022

This week’s re-election of a Chinese member to a United Nations maritime commission is success for Beijing’s efforts to get its candidates into positions of international influence even though its efforts are still falling short in other areas.

On Wednesday Tang Yong, who had been serving as one of 21 members of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf since 2017, was re-elected for another five-year term from 2023 to 2028.

China has always had a seat on the commission, which rules on claims that have significant economic and political importance, since 1997.

The commission was established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to facilitate the implementation of the law and make recommendations on whether countries can claim waters of the continental shelf beyond their Exclusive Economic Zones.

China has been criticised by many countries for making excessive claims contrary to the UNCLOS in the South China Sea and violating international law – especially after it refused to take part in or accept the ruling by an international court regarding a dispute with the Philippines in the Spratly Islands in 2016.

But Beijing has defended itself as being compliant with the UNCLOS.