The lawfare war on the extended continental shelf in the East Sea

Abstract

The partial submission on the extended continental shelf beyond 200 nm made by Malaysia in December 2019 sparked new lawfare war in the East Sea. The paper makes comparisons between 2009 and 2019 submissions not only from the perspective of claimants’ positions but also from the stance of other non claimant (such as Indonesia) and of the State from outside (such as the US). Based on those analysis, overview on the impacts of the 2016 Award Arbitration would be drawn and the difference between the two views, one from most of the countries in and outside the region supporting the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982, requiring a full compliance with the Arbitration ruling, the other from China alone. The research paper concludes that this legal battle could last long with a lot of difficulties before a final solution is given for the East Sea.