ISAS Insights

China’s rejection of the South China Sea arbitral award, issued on 12 July 2016, is of nuanced interest to India. At the Nuclear Suppliers Group in June, China had tacitly portrayed India as an outlier in the realm of international law on nuclear non-proliferation. Now, arguably, China itself can be seen to be in a similar position in the domain of the global law of the sea. This suits India. Unsurprisingly, an authoritative Chinese official source thinks that India’s reaction to China’s denunciation of the arbitral award has been cautious, careful and balanced.