The claims of six governments involved in the long-standing South China Sea territorial dispute have not only managed to effectively plague the minds of policymakers but have also raised pivotal issues surrounding the gap in international law provisions. While multilateral deplomacy and rounds of negotiation have failed in identifying or resolving the core questions of territorial and marine claims in the area, competing national claims to sovereignty are perceived to be an impediment to the stability that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) seeks to provide. While several critics are of the opinion that the ratification of the UNCLOS by all the six parties involved automatically brushed aside all such historical claims, such an argument would be unrealistic, given the present fact scenario.

Julian, S. (2015, January 22). Cooperation, key to resolving South China Sea dispute. Panay News, p. 20.