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by shaobo 3180 days ago
Okay, this is getting way beyond my level of legal knowledge.

> China knew this going in, and agreed to it when they signed the treaty.

China signed it but they didn't agree to compulsory arbitration. They made declaration to that effect, along with a number of countries.

https://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/conventio...

1 comments

Ah, good eye. IANAL, and I missed that part.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration has written their own argument for jurisdiction [0]. Having flipped through it, I don't have the legal background to form a strong opinion in light of China's declaration.

I'd lean towards "don't build on reefs in another country's Exclusive Economic Zone," but I'm neither a court nor plaintiff with standing :)

[0] https://www.pcacases.com/web/sendAttach/1503