THE HAGUE, May 18 (Xinhua) -- The South China Sea issue, which is currently pending before an arbitral tribunal under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), is unsuitable for adjudication and the tribunal should think twice before issuing a ruling which might enjoy little support, said Tom Zwart, professor of law at the Netherlands' Utrecht University.
Zwart told Xinhua that certain types of conflict cannot be solved by courts and tribunals, because "there are too many parties involved and too many interests at stake."
"Even if China would be willing to take part, I would still advise not using arbitration in this case," he said in a phone interview with Xinhua on Tuesday.
He said that the approach of the tribunal, which deals with the case featuring one polarized party against another, is alien to East Asia's culture of harmony, which relies on the willingness to reconcile conflicts and differences.
"Consequently, in the region the award will be widely regarded as the fruit of a poisonous tree, and it will fail, therefore, to garner the necessary support," warned the professor in post published Sunday on his university's Culture and Human Rights blog and coauthored with Ruikun Sun, fellow at the Netherlands School of Human Rights Research.
Zwart admitted that the law is a means to solving conflicts and sometimes a tribunal is needed to assist in upholding the law. "But when law or tribunals become barriers to solving problems, or even make matters worse, you should not use them."
"When you want to bring people together, you should offer tea instead of a sword," added the professor during the interview.
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