South China Sea Dispute

An international tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in a maritime dispute, concluding China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea.
However, China rejected the decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which is likely to have lasting implications for the resource-rich hot spot, which sees $5 trillion worth of shipborne trade pass through each year
The tribunal concluded that China doesn't have the right to resources within its "nine-dash line," which extends hundreds of miles to the south and east of its island province of Hainan and covers some 90% of the disputed waters.
The judges also said that Beijing had violated international law by causing “severe harm to the coral reef environment” and by failing to prevent Chinese fishermen from harvesting endangered sea turtles and other species “on a substantial scale.”
But while the decision is legally binding, there is no mechanism for enforcing it, and China, which refused to participate in the tribunal’s proceedings, reiterated that it would not abide by it.
About Dispute

Approximately 3.5 million square km area of the South China Sea has been under dispute as China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have all claimed sovereignty over this territory. This area of the sea is rich in oil and gas fields.

China's stand 

China claims the waters saying the area is within its "nine-dash line", which extends hundreds of miles to the south and east of its island province of Hainan. Nine-dash lines are the dashes that demarcate virtually all of the South China Sea as Chinese territory, under the United Nation Convention on the Law of the Seas, or UNCLOS.
China has been taking "passive-aggressive" steps, which is to use fishing vessels and oil rigs to change the status quo on the ground and assert sovereignty over the area.
China has reiterated time and again that it has had rights to the territories for centuries, a claim that is contested by Vietnam and Taiwan.

Philippines's stand

The Philippines asked a tribunal of five arbitrators to declare as invalid China's vast claims using the "nine-dash line". However, China and the Philippines are among more than 160 signatories of the 1982 convention, regarded as the constitution that governs and stipulates the rights of countries in using the world's oceans.
Still, the Philippines asked the tribunal to classify whether a number of disputed areas could be called islands, low-tide coral outcrops or submerged banks. That's so it can be determined whether China is indeed entitled to the stretch of territorial waters under the convention. It also wants China to be declared in violation of the convention for carrying out fishing and construction activities that breached the Philippines' maritime rights. The convention does not deal with sovereignty questions, which the Philippine government says it did not raise.

India's Stand

India's discomfort has increased sharply because New Delhi finds that what China is doing in the South China Sea is being replicated in spirit and tactics on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which goes through territory claimed by India. While India does not want to escalate tensions by challenging China on the South China Sea, it worries whether anybody will support India's stand on CPEC.
China has declared via its state media outlets that India is sympathetic to China's view, and its joint statement with India and Russia affirms it. Meanwhile, US indicated India and US may soon be sailing together for joint patrols, as part of a roadmap of the Strategic Vision document signed when Barack Obama visited India in 2015.
 

By: Vishal