Territorial disputes in the South China Sea involve both island and maritime claims among several sovereign states within the region, namely Brunei, the People’s Republic of China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. A significant aspect of the territorial dispute in the South China Sea concerns China’s construction of (artificial) islands. The disputes in the South China focus on the question whether the (land reclamations on the) reefs in the South China Sea are islands or rocks or Low Tide Elevations.

The initiative of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia to organize an international peace conference at the dawn of the 20th century came at exactly the right moment. During the First Hague Peace Conference of 1899, 26 countries came together to speak about disarmament and about the possibility of international jurisdiction, which led to the establishment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. In 1907 a second peace conference was organized in The Hague. Find out more about the Tsar’s initiative and his relationship with the Peace Palace.