This article evaluates China’s public justifications for its unilateral maritime law enforcement activities in the South China Sea, including recent incidents affecting Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia, against the binding international legal requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties to the South China Sea, and the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration UNCLOS Annex VII arbitral award In the Matter of the South China Sea Arbitration. China’s unilateral maritime law enforcement activities in the South China Sea do not comply with UNCLOS and applicable international law. China cannot rely on historic rights or the exercise of sovereign control and jurisdiction under its nine-dash line map to conduct unilateral maritime law enforcement activities since the 2016 arbitral award explicitly declared this map to be “without legal effect.” China’s unilateral maritime law enforcement activities in the South China Sea also do not comply with various UNCLOS provisions on coastal State rights and the prohibitions against actions that hamper efforts to reach final delimitation agreements in the South China Sea. The 2020 Summit Declaration of the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) correctly emphasizes UNCLOS as the legal framework to determine maritime entitlements, sovereign rights, jurisdiction, and legitimate interests over maritime zones in the South China Sea
