(VOVworld) – China has no legal ground for its nine-dashed line claim in the East Sea, said Filipino legal expert Antonio T.Carpio at a Monday workshop on the East Sea tensions at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) in Paris.

China’s illegal construction near Gac Ma reef in Vietnam’s Truong Sa islands. (Photo: AP)

He said Philippines’s previous lawsuit against China focused on maritime disputes, which are regulated by the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Carpio said that in 2002 ASEAN members reached consensus on the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea but the agreement is non-binding. He said even if the Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea is signed between ASEAN and China, the Philippines will continue to resolve maritime disputes in accordance with the UNCLOS. Ms. Sophie Boiseeau du Rocher, a researcher on Asian affairs at the IFRI, said an agreement between ASEAN countries is necessary on ways to settle maritime and waters disputes with China.