In commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea, the Philippine Embassy organized a roundtable discussion led by Consul General Henry Bensurto of the PH Consulate General in Seattle to illustrate the relevance of the ruling in international law

Guests from the resident diplomatic corps in Colombia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Presidential Agency on International Cooperation, and the Filipino community participated in a lively Q&A session after the lecture.

The 2016 Arbitral Award, issued under UNCLOS, ruled that China’s expansive “nine-dash line” claim had no legal basis under international law and that several disputed features, including Scarborough Shoal, were traditional fishing grounds not subject to exclusive sovereignty claims. #