Beijing reconsiders its place in the international order

CHINA is facing a potential decision point in its moves to assert its claims over much of the South China Sea. Beijing has reportedly told some Asian nations that it may withdraw from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) if the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, in The Hague, expected within days, goes against China’s interests. The court case revolves around China’s claims to islands in the South China Sea also claimed by the Philippines—or more precisely, whether the islands fit the definition of islands under UNCLOS and, thus, grant their owner certain maritime territorial claims.

The purported threat to withdraw from UNCLOS follows a similar report that China would consider expanding its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the whole of its claimed territories in the South China Sea if the court ruling is not in its favor.