China to Create Its Own International Courts for Maritime Claims

This photo taken on July 14, 2016 shows a woman walking past a poster of the South China Sea, with the slogan at the bottom “China's territory, never to yield an inch of our ground” on a street in Weifang, Shandong province. China plans to create two Chinese-controlled international maritime courts that would be used to justify its own maritime claims, including those in the South China Sea that have already been ruled unlawful by an international court in July 2016. China may build mobile nuclear power plants in the South China Sea, state media reported on July 15, days after an international tribunal dismissed Beijing's vast claims in the strategically vital waters. STR/AFP/Getty Images

China is continuing with its plan announced earlier this year to create two Chinese-controlled international maritime courts that would be used to provide China’s interpretation of maritime law. The continuation of the plan is the latest signal that China has not given up on pushing forward its maritime claims in the South China Sea, which have been decisively ruled as unlawful by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in a high profile case last year.

On Oct. 25, 2017 during the “2017 Shanghai International Shipping Law Forum” held in Shanghai, Chinese legal scholars and officials affirmed prominently a previously reported plan of creating two international maritime arbitration courts to help project China’s own vision and views on international maritime law.