| Summary/Abstract |
This article reviews the disputed claims submitted to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) by coastal States and the corresponding actions taken by the Commission to deal with these disputes. Although the Commission has set up its modalities of handling the submission of related disputes, and despite that its decisions have successfully balanced the interests of the States concerned, it might not be capable of handling disputes of a more complicated nature. An example of a complicated dispute is the submissions involving the region of the South China Sea which contain land territory sovereignty disputes, maritime boundary delimitation disputes, as well as disputes in regards to the interpretation and application of the UNCLOS. Compared with most other submissions, the disputes associated with the South China Sea are obviously more complex. We, therefore, conclude that it is more appropriate for the Commission to not consider or qualify these submissions, rather than to defer their consideration.
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