TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsASEAN countries should challenge China’s high seas claim on SCS
China can say that ASEAN countries acquisced on China's claim that there are no high seas in South China Sea if ASEAN countries do not lodge formal protest with the United Nations Secretary General.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A satellite image shows fishing vessels blocked by a floating barrier at the entrance to the disputed Scarborough Shoal, in this file photo taken in the South China Sea on April 11, 2026. (Vantor via Reuters/handout)
A
SEAN member states should immediately challenge China's declaration that there is no high seas in the South China Sea, given its claim that the entire sea falls within its territorial waters under the so-called ten-dash line, a retired Philippine judge said.
China ratified the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, also called the High Seas Treaty, on Dec. 22, 2025, and formally declared that there are no high seas in the South China Sea and that the High Seas Treaty does not apply there, retired Justice Antonio Carpio said on Monday.
“China claims that the waters within the 10-dash line are China's jurisdictional waters and the treaty applies only to waters beyond national jurisdiction,” he said on Monday.
“Therefore, China is saying formally that there are no high seas in the South China Sea because waters within the 10-dash line are our jurisdictional waters.”
Speaking at the Commemorative Conference of the 10th Anniversary of the South China Sea Arbitral Award held in Jakarta on Monday and Tuesday, Carpio said China’s formal declaration prevented the existence of the high seas in South China Sea as well as Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of other states within the waters enclosed by the 10-dash line.
China maintains that everything within the 10-dash line is its jurisdictional waters so it cannot be the EEZ of other states, a claim which has been quashed by the arbitral award.
“Now, under the doctrine of acquiescence in international law, unless the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia protest this formally, they are deemed to have acquiesced to China's claim that there are no high seas in the South China Sea and everything within the 10-dash line are China's jurisdictional waters,” he said.
