The South China Sea Arbitration After Eight Years: Its Implications for Jurisprudence and Third Parties

Even though eight years have passed since the issuance of the South China Sea arbitral award between the Republic of the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China, China has repeatedly claimed that the South China Sea arbitral award is null and void. Thus a question arises with regard to the legal consequences of the award in international law and international relations. The aim of this article is to consider this question by analyzing the impacts of the South China Sea arbitral award from three viewpoints: The impacts on the jurisdiction of an adjudicative body with regard to mixed disputes (adjudicative implications), the protection of the marine environment (environmental implications), and the perception of third States in a spatial order in the South China Sea (spatial implications). This article will argue that the legal consequences of a judicial decision cannot be completely erased by a denial of its validity by one of the disputing parties and that the assessment of a judicial decision can be regarded as a dynamic process that requires constant verification in light of the interaction between the judicial decision, subsequent jurisprudence, and State practice.