Friday, June 12, 2015 16:42

A Chinese coast guard ship (back) sails next to a Vietnamese coast guard vessel (front) near China’s oil drilling rig in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea, May 14, 2014.

In just a few weeks, international judges will begin to consider the legality of China’s ‘U-shaped line’ claim in the South China Sea. The venue will be the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and the Court’s first step – during deliberations in July – will be to consider whether it should even consider the case. China’s best hope is that the judges will rule themselves out of order because if they don’t, and the Philippines’ case proceeds, it’s highly likely that China will suffer a major embarrassment. Continue reading The importance of evidence: Fact, fiction and the South China Sea →