Shannon Tiezzi, for The Diplomat

The study examined the legal case for China’s South China Sea claims and found it wanting.

The U.S. State Department concluded in a new legal analysis that “the PRC asserts unlawful maritime claims in most of the South China Sea, including an unlawful historic rights claim.”

“With the release of this latest study, the United States calls again on the PRC to conform its maritime claims to international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention, to comply with the decision of the arbitral tribunal in its award of July 12, 2016, in The South China Sea Arbitration, and to cease its unlawful and coercive activities in the South China Sea,” the department said in a press release.

The study draws heavily from the 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling, which found in the Philippines’ favor on nearly every objection Manila filed to China’s South China Sea claims and actions. China refused to participate in the arbitration and has rejected the ruling entirely, a point reiterated in its response to the State Department study. “The [arbitral tribunal] award is illegal, null and void. China does not accept or recognize it,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.

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Shannon Tiezzi

Shannon Tiezzi is Editor-in-Chief at The Diplomat.