Ad hoc tribunal on South China Sea arbitration has no legal relationship with PCA: experts

The ad hoc tribunal handling the South China Sea arbitration has no legal relationship with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), experts said at the Public International Law Colloquium on Maritime Disputes Settlement held here at the weekend.

The ad hoc tribunal is rather an arbitration set up under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Myron Nordquist, professor of the University of Virginia, said on Saturday.

The South China Sea arbitration, according to Professor Nordquist, is not a PCA arbitration.

Kuen-chen Fu, professor of Xiamen University, noted that there is easily confusion about the name of the PCA. He pointed out that the PCA should no longer be called a "court," as it is not an agency of the United Nations, and should not be confused with the International Court of Justice, which is a judicial branch of the UN.

Speaking during the two-day panel, which is jointly organized by the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center and the Chinese Society of International Law, Professor Stefan Talmon from the University of Bonn questioned the make-up of the ad hoc tribunal.

In Talmon's view, mechanisms that have more arbitrators could produce more balanced outcomes than the ad hoc tribunal which has only five members.

Talmon pointed out that there are over 160 parties to the UNCLOS, but only 30 have made appointments to the list of arbitrators, and merely three of them are Asian states.

Parties may consider taking it more seriously in appointing the list of arbitrators, so that there could be a more balanced panels in the future, he said.

The two-day colloquium attracted over 200 law experts from around the world to discuss issues concerning settlements of maritime disputes. Endit