Yale Society of International Law is delighted to present International Law and the South China Sea by Professor Robert Beckman. The event will take place on April 7 from 12 to 1:30 in Room A005 of 40 Ashmun. Please come listen to Professor Beckman’s lecture and enjoy free food!
Abstract
The disputes in the South China Sea involve competing territory sovereignty claims over off-shore geographic features and competing maritime claims over rights and jurisdiction in maritime space. The disputes involve competition for resources, nationalism, competing historical narratives, and big power rivalries. However, the disputes are often framed as disputes under international law and the legitimacy of the actions of the parties is often judged by whether or not they are consistent with international law.
This talk will focus on the relevance of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in the South China Sea. It will analyse how UNCLOS applies to the features and waters in the South China Sea, including its procedures for the settlement of disputes and the case instituted by the Philippines against China under Annex VII of UNCLOS. It will also discuss the legal issues arising from the reclamation works currently being undertaken by China on the features it occupies.
Brief Bio
Robert Beckman is the Director of the Centre for International Law (CIL), a university-level research centre at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and the Head of its Ocean Law & Policy Programme. He is also an Associate Professor at the NUS Faculty of Law.
Professor Beckman received his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin and his LL.M. from Harvard Law School. Professor Beckman currently teaches Ocean Law & Policy in Asia and International Regulation of Shipping at the NUS Faculty of Law.
Prof Beckman has been working in legal issues in the South China Sea since the Workshops on Managing Potential Conflicts in the early 1990s. His most recent articles on the South China Sea are: Robert C. Beckman & Clive H. Schofield, “Defining EEZ Claims From Islands: A Potential South China Sea Change”, 29 International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, 193-243 (2014); and Robert Beckman, “The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Maritime Disputes in the South China Sea”, 107 American Journal of International Law, 142-163 (2013).