US State Dept. Says China Makes Unlawful Claims In Most Of South China Sea

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th January, 2022) The US Department of State said in a press release that it has released a study report that alleges China has long asserted unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea.

"Today, the Department of State released a Limits in the Seas study on the PRC's (People's Republic of China) maritime claims in the South China Sea... This most recent study, the 150th in the Limits in the Seas series, concludes that the PRC asserts unlawful maritime claims in most of the South China Sea, including an unlawful historic rights claim," the release said on Wednesday.

The State Department argues that China's claim of a wide swath of the South China Sea is not consistent with the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention.

The Limits in the Seas study, according to the State Department, is a longstanding legal and technical series that reviews maritime claims and their consistency with international law.

Beijing has been disputing for decades the status of a number of territories in the South China Sea that it lays claim to, primarily the Paracel and Spratly islands, and the Scarborough Shoal. China considers the Spratly archipelago to be its territory, despite the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling, which said there was no legal basis for China's maritime claims. The arbitration proceeding was initiated by the Philippines in January of 2013.