Challenging China: The Philippine Experience in the South China Sea

Date: Monday, Jan. 29, 2024

Time: 7:00-8:00 pm (Eastern)

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About the event:

An obscure reef in the South China Sea has become the latest flashpoint in China’s long-running campaign to dominate the South China Sea. Since last summer, the Chinese Coast Guard has repeatedly employed water cannons, lasers, and acoustic weapons and rammed Philippine Navy and Coast Guard vessels to prevent them from resupplying military personnel positioned at Second Thomas Shoal. The US labels China’s actions as violations of international law and has confirmed that its mutual defense treaty with the Philippines extends to attacks on Philippine vessels at sea. Jay Batongbacal, a lawyer and professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law, will discuss how this tiny maritime feature became a potential conflict site, why a 2016 ruling by an international tribunal in the Philippines’ favor has not ended the dispute, and how international law can continue to be effective in the face of Chinese attacks. Peter Dutton, an adjunct professor of international law at NYU School of Law, will be the moderator.

About the speaker?

Jay L Batongbacal is a professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law and director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea of the U.P. Law Center. He has worked extensively on maritime affairs since 1997, carrying out research, consultancy work, and teaching, with numerous national and international publications to his credit. Professor Batongbacal was legal advisor to the Philippine delegation that successfully pursued the Philippines’ claim to a continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles in the Benham Rise Region before the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, and the successful application before the International Maritime Organization for the designation of the Tubbataha Reef Natural Park Particularly Sensitive Sea Area. He holds degrees in political science and law from the University of the Philippines, as well as a master’s degree in marine management and JSD, both from Dalhousie University in Canada. In 2022, Professor Batongbacal was a fellow at Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, Taiwan and a Fulbright Advanced Research and Lecturing Fellow at the US Naval War College in Rhode Island.