JEAIL > Volume 12(1); 2019 > Student Contribution
Research Paper
Published online: May 30, 2019
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14330/jeail.2019.12.1.08

Spratly Islands Dispute in the South China Sea: Potential Solutions

Md. Monjur Hasan & He Jian
School of Law, Ocean University of China, 238 Songling Road, Laoshan, Qingdao 266100, Shandong, P.R China.
Corresponding Author: monju.law10@gmail.com

ⓒ Copyright YIJUN Institute of International Law
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract
The Spratly Islands dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute between China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei, concerning territorial sovereignty over the Spratly Islands. This conflicting territorial claim between these coastal parties is raising tensions in Asia, so the settlement of this dispute is of key importance for a peaceful atmosphere in the area. The dispute is also significant in respect of being an international geo-strategic, economic, political and legal matter. After a 1988 armed conflict between Vietnamese and Chinese forces, the claimants have looked for approaches to solve the conflict peacefully through different informal endeavors, but due to the complexity of the dispute there are a number of barriers to reaching a permanent settlement. This study puts forward some potential approaches for resolving the dispute, considering its complex nature, by evaluating the six parties’ competing claims and analyzing the legal soundness of their claims

Keywords : Section 301, IPR, WTO Dispute Settlement, China-US Trade War, International Law

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