Water Wars: Stare Decisis in the South China Sea

Jan 6, 2020 | Sean Quirk
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On Dec. 12, 2019, Malaysia further delineated the limits of its extended continental shelf, directly challenging Chinese claims in the South China Sea. Malaysia submitted information to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf that expressed its rights to an extended continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. In accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Malaysia first submitted information to the commission on an extended continental shelf in the South China Sea in 2009, when it jointly filed with Vietnam. Malaysia’s new submission nearly doubles the range of the continental shelf northward from Malaysia’s original 1979 government mapping.