Territorial Disputes in South China Sea

Territorial Disputes in South China Sea Abstract This diploma thesis deals with territorial disputes in the South China Sea and its participants. The aim of the thesis is to describe legal titles of all participants of the dispute and analyse their claims for areas in the South China Sea. The reason of the territorial dispute is based on the proximity of countries and the fact that the South China Sea contains a number of features that are claimed by surrounding countries whose claims exclude. Moreover, one of the participants - China, claims nearly 90% of the whole area. The thesis also describes provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that are significant for the territorial dispute, as well as, means of the conflict solutions of the dispute provided in the Convention. The Philippines as one of the participants of the dispute decided to initiate arbitrary trial in order to find amicable settlement. The arbitrary tribunal ruled in favour of the Philippines in that matter, however as final chapter provides, China decided to ignore the arbitrary award and continues to supress other countries. Thus, an amicable solution of the dispute seems very unlikely in the near future. Key words South China Sea, exclusive economic zone, territorial disput