Protesters carry signs against China’s claims regarding islands in the South China Sea during a rally near the Chinese Consulate in Makati city, east of Manila, Philippines, Tuesday, July 7, 2015. The Philippines has asked an international tribunal to declare China’s claims to virtually all of the South China Sea invalid
An international tribunal ruled Thursday that it can take on a case between China and the Philippines over disputed territory in the South China Sea, overruling objections from Beijing that the arbitration body has no authority to hear the case.
The Philippine case, which was filed before the tribunal in The Hague in January 2013, contends that China’s massive territorial claims in the strategic waters do not conform with the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and should be declared invalid. The Philippines also asserts that some Chinese-occupied reefs and shoals do not generate, or create a claim to, territorial waters. Details