British Former Deputy Legal Adviser Whomersley Delivered Lectures about International Law of the Sea at South China Sea Institute

Christopher Adrian Whomersley, the former Deputy Legal Adviser in the United Kingdom's Foreign & Commonwealth Office, gave two lectures in South China Sea Institute, Xiamen University respectively on November 17 (Thursday) and November 18(Friday), 2016. Assistant Professor Henan HU served as the hostess.

Mr. Whomersley’s lectures were titled “The Law of the Sea and Climate Change” and “Some Reflections on the 2016 SCS Arbitral Award on Merits. In the first lecture on November 17, he briefed the audience about the current conditions of climate change and then elaborated how climate change has impacted the law of the sea, mainly in seven aspects: 1) baselines; 2) archipelagic states; 3) outer continental shelf boundaries; 4) delimitation agreements; 5) bilateral and regional fisheries agreements; 6) UNCLOS fishery provisions; 7) ice-covered areas. In the second lecture, he presented some of his views concerning the Sino-Philippines arbitration, revolving around maritime delimitation, islands and rocks, offshore archipelagos, application of CLOREGS and traditional fishing.

His insightful lectures were highly applauded by the audience, who also initiated enthusiastic interaction with him by actively raising questions and making hot discussions.

Written by YE Lin.