Vessel Collisions in the Law of the Sea

Alfredo C. Robles, Jr. is a University Fellow at De La Salle University, Philippines. He holds doctorate degrees from the Université Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne), France, and Syracuse University, USA. He is the author of French Theories of Regulation and Conceptions of the International Division of Labour (1994), The Political Economy of Interregional Relations: ASEAN and the EU (2004), The Asia-Europe Meeting: The Theory and Practice of Interregionalism (2008), The South China Sea Arbitration: Understanding the Awards and Debating with China (2018), and Endangered Species and Fragile Ecosystems in the South China Sea: The Philippines v. China Arbitration (2020).

• 1. Introduction.- 2. The Uncontested Factual Background.- 3. The COLREGS, Mariners, and States.- 4. The COLREGS and the Arbitral Tribunal’s Jurisdiction.- 5. The Violations of the COLREGS as Violations of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.- 6. Towards a Critique of the Rationalizations of Collisions as Instruments of Chinese Foreign Policy.- 7. Summary and Conclusions.