Tung Chee-Hwa, GBM
Former Chief-Executive of Hong Kong SAR;
Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference

Mr Tung Chee Hwa is the Vice Chairman of the Twelfth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, People's Republic of China. He is the Founding Chairman of the China-United States Exchange Foundation and Our Hong Kong Foundation. Prior to these appointments, Mr Tung served as First Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR"), People's Republic of China from July 1997 to March 2005.

As the First Chief Executive of HKSAR, Mr Tung presided in the historical return of Hong Kong to China and successfully turned the "One Country Two Systems" and "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong" with "high degree of autonomy" from a concept into an everyday reality.

The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference ("CPPCC") is one of the most important institutions of the People's Republic of China. Members of the CPPCC are made of distinguished former senior government officials, well known professionals, outstanding academics, members of different political parties and people from different religious and ethnic groups from all across China. Major responsibilities of the CPPCC are to participate in the formulation and development of policies, to monitor the work of the government and to promote consultative democracy. It plays a key role in ensuring that the opinions from the public at large are reflected to the government, and that government policies are communicated to the people.

The China-United States Exchange Foundation is a non-profit organisation registered in Hong Kong and was established in January 2008. Mr Tung is the Founding Chairman and is supported by friends in Hong Kong, China and the United States. The mission of the Foundation is to promote understanding and strengthening relationship between the US and China. This is being done by fostering open dialogue between opinion leaders from governments, think tanks, academia, media and business communities of both countries.

Our Hong Kong Foundation was established in Hong Kong in 2014. Its mission is to pool local, Mainland and international talents to study Hong Kong's short-, medium, and long term development needs and to offer multi-disciplinary public policy research and recommendations to the Hong Kong Government, other public service agencies and the populace at large.

Born in 1937 in Shanghai, Mr Tung spent his childhood in Hong Kong. He had his education in the United Kingdom, graduating at University of Liverpool with BSc in 1960. After that he lived and worked nine years in the United States with General Electric and in the family business respectively. In 1969, Mr Tung returned Hong Kong to help to run the family business. He had a successful and distinguished career in business while at the same time served in various public sector and advisory positions in Hong Kong. In 1997, he took on the position as the first Chief Executive of HKSAR.

Mr Tung is married to Betty Chiu Hung Ping. They have three children and nine grandchildren.

Prof. Teresa Cheng GBS SC JP,
Chairperson, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre

Teresa Cheng GBS SC JP FICE FCIArb is a Senior Counsel, Chartered Engineer, Chartered Arbitrator and Accredited Mediator, and is an experienced practitioner in international arbitration and mediation. She is frequently engaged as counsel or arbitrator in complex international commercial disputes.

She is the Chairperson of Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), Past Vice President of the International Council of Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), and Past Vice President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration. In 2008, she was the first Asian woman elected through a global election as President of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb). She has been appointed as a Recorder in the Court of First Instance of the High Court of Hong Kong in 2014, and is currently a member of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) panel of Arbitrators, designated by the Chairman of the ICSID Administrative Council of World Bank, and an external IFC alternate member of the World Bank's Sanctions Board.

Ms Cheng is a Fellow of King’s College in London, and the Course Director of the International Arbitration and Dispute Settlement Course at the Law School of Tsinghua University in Beijing. Ms Cheng has co-authored numerous books and articles in journals and seminars. Some of her recent publications include "Construction Law and Practice in Hong Kong" and "Arbitration in Hong Kong: A Practical Guide", published by Sweet & Maxwell, as well as papers in the "International Council for Commercial Arbitration Congress Series", published by Kluwer Law International.

Li Shi Shi, President, Society of Chinese International Law

Born in 1953, Mr. Li Shishi received his Master's degree in public international law from China Foreign Affairs University and earned his Ph. D. in civil and commercial law from Renmin University of China. He was Deputy Director of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, and later on Deputy Secretary General of the State Council. He was elected Member of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh National People’s Congress in 2008. Currently, he is a member of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People’s Congress, Vice-chairman of the Law Committee and Director of the Legislative Affairs Commission. Mr. Li Shishi was elected President of the Chinese Society of International Law in 2008.

Mme. Geneviève Bastid-Burdeau, Professor of Université(ParisI) Panthéon-Sorbonne

Professor emeritus of International Law at the University Panthéon Sorbonne (Paris I), Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, former Secretary General of the Hague Academy of International Law (1999-2005), member of the Institut de Droit International, member of the Curatorium of the Hague Academy. Vice president of the French Society of International Law, member of the board of editors of the Annuaire Français de Droit International, Specialist of public international law, international economic law (trade, investments, monetary relations), acted as counsel for several states and international organisations. Numerous publications in the field of international law.

John Anthony Carty, Professor of Tsinghua University

Professor of Public Law at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland (on extended leave of absence). Previously , Sir Y K Pao Chair Professor of Public Law at the Law Faculty, University of Hong Kong, from 2009 to 2015; Visiting Professor at HKU Law Faculty from 2015.

Previously, Visiting Professor of International Law at the Free University of Berlin (Law and Politics, Otto Suhr Institute) the Universities of Paris I and II (Pantheon-Sorbonne), the University of Tokyo Law Faculty, the Autonomous University of Madrid (Instituto Ortega y Gasset). DAAD, Alexander von Humboldt and Max Planck Research Fellowships at the Institutes of Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, of Comparative European Legal History, Frankfurt and the University of Munich Law Faculty.

I have specialized in public international law and within this discipline, within two broad areas, the theory and philosophy of the discipline and also the history of international law. I view the latter both as a system of ideas and also as the historical practice of states as reflected in their archival records. I am the author of The Decay of International Law, due to be reprinted by Manchester University Press and The Philosophy of International Law, for which a second edition is in preparation with Edinburgh University Press. I am editor in chief of the Oxford Online Bibliography of International Law. I enjoy writing reviews and review articles about developments in the discipline of international law and its relationship to philosophy, political theory and history.

For the historical approach, I am, with Dr. Richard Smith, author of Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice and the World Crisis, A Legal Adviser in the Foreign Office 1932-1945. A second volume on the period 1945-60 covering the Cold War and End of Empire is virtually complete to be published with Brill/Nijhoff. Chapters out of this second volume on the implications of state archives for the doctrine of customary international law, British military intervention in the Middle East, Nuclear Tests in the Pacific, The Corfu Channel Case (ICJ) and the Palestine Conflict are already published as book chapters and journal articles.

I have had funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council of the United Kingdom and the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong to pursue and continue archival research in international law. As a direct outcome of this activity I have been charged by the China Institute of Maritime Affairs of the State Administration of the Ocean in Beijing to undertake extensive research in European and American Archives on the South China Seas. This work is also on going.

In Tsinghua I am especially interested in teaching both at an undergraduate and postgraduate level. I believe teaching both inside and outside the Law Faculty (i.e. also the Xin Ya College) is an essential part of the work of a serious researcher. Meeting with students makes the cutting edge of intellectual life and research students are essential to effective academic work.

Cheng Chia-Jui, Professor of International Law, Soochow University School of Law, Taipei;
Secretary-General of the Curatorium, Xiamen Academy of International Law, Xiamen

Chia-Jui Cheng is currently a professor of international law at the Soochow University School of Law in Taipei and the Secretary-General of the Curatorium of Xiamen Academy of International Law.

From 1991 to 2000, he was elected as the Dean of The Graduate School of Law and the Dean of School of Law of Soochow University in Taipei.

Currently, he is also the Secretary-General of the Curatorium, Asia Academy of Comparative Law, Beijing; President, Chinese Society of Comparative Law and President, Asian Institute of International Air and Space Law.

He is the editor-in-chief of Soochow Law Journal and the Collected Courses of Xiamen Academy of International Law. He has published more than fifteen books on various topics of international law since 2000. His latest publication is entitled New International Legal Order, The Brill/Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2916.

Aldo Chircop, Professor of Dalhousie University

Aldo Chircop, JSD, is Professor of Law and Canada Research Chair in Maritime Law and Policy, Schulich School of Law and Research Fellow at the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

He was previously Chair in Marine Environment Protection at the International Maritime Organization's World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden. Professor Chircop's teaching and research interests are in the fields of Canadian and international maritime law, international law of the sea, regulation of Arctic shipping, and comparative coastal and ocean law and policy. He is a member of the Nova Scotia bar. His numerous publications include: Maritime Law 2d (Irwin Law, 2016; with Moreira, Kindred and Gold eds); Places of Refuge for Ships: Emerging Environmental Concerns of a Maritime Custom (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2006; with Linden eds); The Future of Ocean Regime-Building (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2009; with McDorman & Rolston eds); The International Regulation of Shipping: International and Comparative Perspectives (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2012; with McDorman, Letalik & Rolston eds).

He is also co-editor of the Ocean Yearbook since volume 13 (University of Chicago Press; Transnational Press; Martinus Nijhoff Publishers; most recently vol 30, 2016.

Tara Davenport, A non-resident Research Fellow at CIL

Tara Davenport holds a Bachelor of Laws from the London School of Economics, a Masters of Law (Maritime Law) from the National University of Singapore (NUS), and a Masters of Law from Yale Law School. She has worked previously as a shipping lawyer in Singapore, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singapore and as a Research Fellow at the Centre for International Law (CIL) at NUS. She has co-taught Law of the Sea at NUS and at Yale Law School, and has published several articles on oceans law and policy as well as edited two books.

Tara is presently pursuing a Doctorate at Yale Law School and is a non-resident Research Fellow at CIL

Erik Franckx, Professor of Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Erik Franckx is full-time research professor, President of the Department of International and European Law, and Vice-dean for Internationalization, Faculty of Law and Criminology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (V.U.B.). He holds moreover teaching assignments at Vesalius College (V.U.B.); Université Libre de Bruxelles; Brussels School of International Studies (University of Kent); Institute of European Studies (V.U.B.); Université Paris-Sorbonne Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and the University of Akureyri, Iceland.

He is appointed by Belgium as: expert in maritime boundary delimitation to the International Hydrographic Organization (2005 - ); member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (2006 - ); arbitrator under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (2014 - ); and member of the national Commission for the Reform of Private and Public Maritime Law (2012 - ).

He has taught about 20 short courses since 1992 in the following countries: China, Greece, Iceland, Japan, Philippines, Russian Federation, Sweden, Turkey, United Arab Emirates; United States; and Vietnam.

He was an invited speaker at about 70 international conferences during the period 2006-2015 in the following countries: Canada, Chili, China, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Russian Federation, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam.

He served as a consultant to governments (foreign as well as the three levels of the Belgian structure, i.e. the federal, regional and community level), international, supra national and non-governmental organizations. He is at present legal counsel on behalf of the Netherlands in the Arctic Sunrise Arbitration against the Russian Federation (2013 - ).

He is at present External Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg.

He has published widely in the area of the law of the sea (for a complete list, see http://www.vub.ac.be/IERE/efranen.html).

Kuen-chen Fu, President of South China Sea Institute of Xiamen University

Prof. Kuen-chen FU (a.k.a. Lawrence K.C. FU) obtains his B. L. from National Taiwan University in 1974 and so does his M. L. in 1980; He gets his LL.M. (with specialization in oceans law and policy) in Univ. of Virginia School of Law, 1983, and his S.J.D. in Univ. of Virginia School of Law, 1986. He also attended the Hague Academy of International Law in the Hague (Summer 1982). In 2013, he was awarded the honorary PhD of Law degree by the Far East Federal University (FEFU) in Russia.

Prof. FU is a Chinese State "Thousand Talents Program" Expert, recruited from Taiwan; Professor and Dean of the South China Sea Institute, Xiamen University. He is the editor-in-chief of China Oceans Law Review (COLR), a Chinese-English bilingual academic journal; editor-in-chief of the South China Sea Bulletin, a bilingual monthly newsletter; and a member of Editorial Board of Aegean Review of the Law of the Sea and Maritime Law, (Greece). He serves as Arbitrator in China, Taiwan and Russia Far East Region, with several tribunals, e.g., China Maritime Arbitration Commission (CMAC) and China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC).

Prof. FU teaches a variety of courses, including international law, conflict of laws, constitutional law, arbitration law, introduction to Anglo-American law, maritime law, international law of the sea, and law of contracts. But his main interest for teaching and for publication concentrates on (1) international law of the sea, and (2) Chinese and comparative law of contracts. He has teaching experiences in several different countries; and up to now, he has 36 books and almost 100 articles published in either Chinese or English.

Judge Zhiguo Gao, Judge of International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

Dr. Gao Zhiguo is senior research fellow at China Institute for Marine Affairs, and has been a judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea since 2008. He received LLM from China University of Political Science & Law, Beijing, China (1983); LLM, University of Washington, Seattle, USA (1986); JSD (Doctorate in the Science of Law), Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada (1993); Post-Doctorate in Law, East-West Centre, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA (1994).

Dr. Gao's professional experiences in recent years also include: Professor and Dean, Law School of Hainan University (2014-present); Professor and Honorary Director, Centre for the Law of the Sea, Tsinghua University (December 2009 to present); Adjunct Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at University of Nanjing (since June 2013), China University of Political Science and Law (2012-present), Hainan University (2008 to present); Xiamen University (2004 to present), China University of Oceanography (2000 to present); Honorary Lecturer, doctoral/master's degree supervisor, University of Dundee, United Kingdom (1998 to present); President, China Society for the Law of the Sea (1998-present); Member of the Standing Council(1997-2012) and Member of the Advisory Board (since 2013), Chinese Society of International Law; Member of Editorial Board, Ocean Development and International Law (Canada); Member of Editorial Board, Ocean Yearbook (United States of America); Dr. Gao is widely published in books and journals，including his recent publication "The Nine-Dash Line in the South China Sea: History, Status, and Implications", AJIL 107(95), 2013; The Nine-Dash Line in the South China Sea, Beijing, Ocean Press, 2014.

Michael Sheng-ti Gau, Professor of National Taiwan Ocean University

Prof. Michael Sheng-ti Gau has degrees of LL.B. (National Taiwan University), LL.M. (Cambridge), LL.M. (KCL), and Ph.D. (Leiden) all specialized in public international law. He is teaching at Institute of Law of the Sea in National Taiwan Ocean University. Professor Gau has been legal advisor for and commissioned by Ministry of the Interior, Fishery Agency of Council of Agriculture, Ministry of Economics, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs on numerous research projects on law of the sea legal issues, negotiations in Regional Fisheries Management Organizations like ICCAT, SPRFMO and WCPFC, as well as WTO fishery subsidies negotiations, and Taiwan's participation in IGOs like ICAO, OIE, WHO etc. For the past 8 years, Professor Gau has been focusing on outer continental shelf, CLCS and the South China Sea legal issues and Sino-Philippine Arbitration for SCS disputes, with publications in Ocean Yearbook, Ocean Development and International Law, Chinese Journal of International Law, Journal of East Asia and International Law, Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook of International Law and Affairs, and China Oceans Law Review etc.. Professor Gau has been National Administrator for Taiwan Regional Round of the Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (2000-2012).

Between 1998 and 2000 he was the head of legal department for the Aviation Safety Council of the Executive Yuan. Since 2004 he became ASC Board Member, and from 2012 to 2014 the Vice-Chairman. Dr. Gau is married and lives by the mouth of Tam-sui River in Taipei.

Hong Nong, President of Research Center for Oceans Law and Policy of National Institute for South China Sea Studies

Dr. Nong HONG heads the Institute for China-America Studies (ICAS), an independent, non-profit academic institution based in Washington D.C. She also holds a joint position of research fellow with China Institute, University of Alberta (CIUA), National Institute for South China Sea Studies (NISCSS), and the China Center for Collaborated Studies on the South China Sea, Nanjing University. Dr. Hong received her PhD of interdisciplinary study of international law and international relations from the University of Alberta, Canada and held a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the University's China Institute. She was ITLOS-Nippon Fellow for International Dispute Settlement (2008-2009), and Visiting Fellow at the Center of Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia (2009) and at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (2007).

Her research takes an interdisciplinary approach to examining international relations and international law, with focus on International Relations and Comparative Politics in general; ocean governance in East Asia; law of the sea; international security, particularly non-traditional security; and international dispute settlement and conflict resolution. Her most recent publications include UNCLOS and Ocean Dispute Settlement: Law and Politics in the South China Sea, (Abingdon, New York: Routledge, 2012); UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the South China Sea, co-edited with Wu Shicun and Mark Valencia (Surrey: Ashgate, 2015), Recent developments in the South China Sea dispute, co-edited with Wu Shicun (Routledge, 2014); Maritime Security Issues in the South China Sea and the Arctic: Sharpened Competition or Collaboration? Co-edited with Gordon Houlden (Beijing: China Democracy and Legal System Publishing House, 2012); "Face-Off in the South China Sea: Conflict or Compromise?" in National Interest, April 16 2015; "Emerging interests of non-Arctic countries in the Arctic: a Chinese perspective", Polar Journal , 2014; "China's Newly Formed Coast Guard and its Implication for Regional Maritime Disputes", Ocean Yearbook. Vol. 28, 2013; "The Energy Factor in the Arctic Dispute: a Pathway to Conflict or Cooperation?" in the Journal of World Energy Law & Business (Oxford Journal), January 2012; 'The Melting Arctic and Its Impact on China's Maritime Transport', Research in Transportation Economics, Volume 35, Issue 1, May 2012. Full CV at http://chinaus-icas.org/hongnong

Judge Jose Luis Jesus, Judge of International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

Member of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea since 1 October 1999; re-elected as from 1 October 2008; President of the Tribunal 2008–2011; Current President of the Seabed Disputes Chamber since October 2014.

Delegate to the III UNCLOS(1979/1982) Chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the International Seabed Authority and for the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (1987–1995); Chairman, National Commission on the Delimitation of Maritime Boundaries, Cape Verde; Legal Consultant for technical assistance in the drafting of fisheries legislation, FAO, WB; Lecturer at several seminars and conferences on the law of the sea, humanitarian law, judicial work and international relations. Author of several publications specially in the field of the law of the sea (UNCLOS Dispute Settlement, UNCLOSS compulsory jurisdiction provisions, maritime security, ITLOS judicial work,etc.)

Carrier Ambassador. Served his country for 13 years in the United Nations. Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cape Verde (1998/1999).

Natalie Klein, Professor of University of Macquarie

Dr. Natalie Klein is Professor and Dean at Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. She recently served as the Acting Head of the Department for Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism at Macquarie. Professor Klein teaches and researches in different areas of international law, with a focus on law of the sea and international dispute settlement. Professor Klein is the author of Dispute Settlement and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Cambridge University Press, 2005) and Maritime Security and the Law of the Sea (Oxford University Press, 2011). She provides advice, undertakes consultancies and interacts with the media on law of the sea issues. Prior to joining Macquarie, Professor Klein worked in the international litigation and arbitration practice of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, served as counsel to the Government of Eritrea (1998-2002) and was a consultant in the Office of Legal Affairs at the United Nations. Her masters and doctorate in law were earned at Yale Law School and she is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.

Melissa Loja, Former Law Clerk, Philippine Supreme Court and Court of Appeals

Melissa Loja is a Phd student, Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong, under the supervision of Prof. Simon Young. Her thesis is on the limits of sovereign rights. She worked as law clerk from 1999 to 2011 in the Philippine Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. She won the 2014 Willoughby Prize for best article published in Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law. Her presentation is a based on a paper which is forthcoming in Ocean Development and International Law. Her publications are also in Leiden Journal of International Law (2014) and, soon, in European Journal of International Law.

Judge Abdul Gadire Koroma, Former Judge of International Court of Justice

Judge of International Court of Justice, The Hague, 1994 to 2012.

Former Ambassador of Sierra Leone to the UNITED NATIONS, New York.

Former Member and Chairman of the International Law Commission.

One of the Chief Negotiators of the United Nations Convention on the Law Of The SEA (UNCLOS).

Ted L. McDorman, Professor of University of Victoria

Ted L. McDorman is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He has written widely on ocean law and policy issues having published over 130 articles, chapters in books, etc. From 1984 to 2002, Professor McDorman was part of the CIDA/IDRC funded Southeast Project on Ocean Law, Policy and Management (SEAPOL) centered in Bangkok, Thailand.

Since 2000, he has been editor-in-chief of Ocean Development and International Law. From 2002-2004 and again from 2011 to 2013, Professor McDorman was "academic-in-residence" in the Legal Affairs Branch of the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (now called Global Affairs Canada) where he was involved in a number of Arctic, law of the sea and environmental matters and represented Canada at several international forums. From January-May 2007, he was the Fulbright Visiting Chair in Canada-U.S. Relations at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C.

Publications of note include:

• Co-editor with Nien-Tsu Alfred Hu, Maritime Issues in the South China Sea: Troubled Waters or A Sea of Opportunity (London and New York: Routledge, 2013), 178 p.
• "Rights and Jurisdiction over Resources in the South China Sea: UNCLOS and the 'Nine-Dash Line'" in S. Jayakumar, Tommy Koh and Robert Beckman, eds., The South China Dispute and Law of the Sea (Northampton: Edward Elgar, 2014), pp. 144-163.
• "The South China Sea: The U-Shaped Line, Islands and the Philippine-China Arbitration" (2013), 56 German Yearbook of International Law 33-62.
• "Continental Shelf," in D.R. Rothwell, Alex G. Oude Elferink, K. Scott and T. Stephens, eds., The Oxford Handbook of the Law of the Sea (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), pp. 181-202.

Rahamt Mohamad, outgoing Secretary General of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization

Rahmat Mohamad is the outgoing Secretary General of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO). In June 2008 at the 48th Annual Session of AALCO held in New Delhi, India, he was elected and appointed as the fifth Secretary General of AALCO and will soon will end his final term of office in August 2016. He is the Malaysia's candidate to the International Law Commission (ILC) of the United Nations.

Rahmat Mohamad read law at Institut Teknologi MARA (now MARA University of Technology), Malaysia in 1980 and later pursued LL.M at University of Bristol, England in 1985. He obtained his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at University of Wales, Aberystwyth (now University of Aberystwyth) in 2000.

Currently, he is a Professor of International Law at Faculty of Law, MARA University of Technology, Malaysia. In addition, he has been appointed in the capacity of Visiting and Adjunct Professor by universities in India, China, Europe and Malaysia. As an accomplished law scholar, he is the author of several authoritative books, book chapters and articles on public international law and issues concerning the Asian and African states. The theme of his publications includes Dispute Settlement in ASEAN, International Criminal Court, the Post Westphalia International Law and the Role of the Asian-African States in the progressive development of international law. Apart from heading the AALCO in many diplomatic conferences, as an expert in international law, he has been globally invited to deliver lectures and present papers in international seminars and conferences on the subject of public international law.

Myron Nordquist, Professor of University of Virginia

Myron H. Nordquist earned his S.J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and was the first Senior Fellow at the Center for Oceans Law and Policy. Since 1999, he has served concurrently as the Center's Associate Director and Editor.

After completing postgraduate studies in international law at Cambridge University, Professor Nordquist was an attorney advisor and legislative counsel in the Department of State's Office of Legal Adviser from 1970 until 1978. While at State he was Office Director of the NSC Interagency Task Force on the Law of the Sea and Secretary of the US Delegation to the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea. From 1978 to 1990, he was engaged in private law practice specializing in international law. He then served as Deputy and then Acting General Counsel of the Department of the Air Force from 1990 until 1993.

Professor Nordquist was a professor of law at the US Air Force Academy from 1993 to 1999. During the 1995-1996 Academic Year he was the Stockton Professor of International Law at the US Naval War College. Over the years he has taught on the adjunct law faculties at American University, George Washington University and the University of Denver.

Professor Nordquist was a Ford Foundation Fellow at Cambridge University while the Rockefeller Foundation funded his SJD studies. The Mellon Foundation supported his editorial work at the University of Virginia for more than a decade.

Professor Nordquist has edited more than 60 books, mostly on law of the sea topics. He is Editor-in-Chief of the seven volume set titled UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982: A Commentary sponsored at the Virginia Center. He has authored and delivered uncounted academic presentations as well as numerous scholarly articles on oceans law, national security law and international law.

While at the Virginia Center, Professor Nordquist has directed the substantive programs on law of the sea, including its annual conference and the Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy.

Professor Nordquist was an officer in the US Marine Corps from 1962 to 1966 making the initial landing at Chu Lai, Vietnam in early 1965. For this action he received an accelerated promotion, a Presidential Unit Citation and several combat decorations including a personal "V" for valor.

Pemmaraju Sreenivasa Rao, Former Member of the International Law Commission

Dr. Pemmaraju Sreenivasa Rao (P.S.Rao) is currently the President of the Institut De Droit International, and is its member since 1999.. He was a member of the International Law Commission (1987-2006), and its Chairman (1995).

Dr. P.S.Rao received his J.S.D from the Yale Law School, USA in 1970, did post-doctoral research for another 4 more years in the USA before working for as India's legal adviser from 1975-2002. He was a delegate to the Third Law of Sea conferences from 1978-1982.

Most recently Dr.Rao served as an arbitrator in the Bay of Bengal Maritime Boundary Delimitation between Bangladesh and India (20010-2014). Earlier, he as an ad hoc judge of the ICJ (2004-2008) appointed by Singapore; and was also appointed as an arbitrator in the case between Libya and Switzerland (2010-2012).

Dr. P.S.Rao has several publication and a book on the law of the sea to his credit.

Donald Rothwell, Professor of Australian National University

Donald R Rothwell is Professor of International Law, and Deputy Dean at the ANU College of Law, Australian National University where he has taught since July 2006. His research has a specific focus on law of the sea, law of the polar regions, and implementation of international law within Australia as reflected in over 200 articles, book chapters and notes in international and Australian publications. Rothwell has authored, co-authored or edited 21 books including most recently The International Law of the Sea 2nd (Hart, 2016) with Stephens, and Rothwell, Oude Elferink, Scott and Stephens (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Law of the Sea (OUP, 2015). Since 2012 he has been Rapporteur of the International Law Association Committee on 'Baselines under the International Law of the Sea', and has acted as a consultant or been a member of expert groups for UNEP, UNDP, IUCN, and the Australian Government.

Surakiart Sathirathai, Former Deputy Prime Minister Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand

Professor Dr. Sathirathai served as Deputy Prime Minister (2005-2006) and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand (2001-2004) of Thailand. Received his Doctorate (S.J.D.) and Master of Law (LL.M.) from the Harvard Law School, and Master of Law and Diplomacy (M.A.L.D.) at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He was the Dean (1992-1995) and Professor of Law of the Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University.

Professor Dr.Sathirathai is currently the Chairman of the Asian Peace and Reconciliation Council (APRC), an organization of 25 distinguished members of former Heads of State and Government, former ministers, leading academics, from around the world, President of the Asian Society of International Law (AsianSIL, 2014-2015), Member of the Board of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), President of the Saranrom Institute of Foreign Affairs Foundation, Chancellor of Eastern Asia University, Chairman of the University Council of the Rajamangala University of Technology Isan, Member of the Asian Advisory Group of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and a Member of the Honorary Council of the Institute for Global Law and Policy, Harvard Law School, U.S.A.

Nico Schrijver, Professor of Leiden University

Nico Schrijver is Professor of International Law and Academic Director of the Grotius Centre, Leiden University, the Netherlands. He is also a Senator and the chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee. He serves as independent expert member on the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and is member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the Institut de droit international. Nico Schrijver is the author of Sovereignty over Natural Resources. Balancing rights and duties (Cambridge, 1997), The Evolution of Sustainable Development in International Law (Leiden, 2008) and Development without Destruction. The UN and Global Resource Management (Bloomington/New York, 2010). Recently, he co-authored an academic article on Cases Concerning Sovereignty over Islands before the International Court of Justice (ODIL, 2015). On several occasions he acted as a legal counsel or expert before the ICJ, ITLOS and specialized tribunals on maritime or foreign investment affairs.

Clive Symmons, Professor of National University of Ireland Galway

Dr Clive Symmons has taught international law, with a specialisation in law of the sea, over many years, both in the UK and Ireland. He is currently Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Law, Trinity College, Dublin; and has also recently acted as Adjunct Professor in the Marine Law and Ocean Policy Centre, NUI, Galway. His many publications and presentations at conferences, reflect his law of the sea research interests; and his books include The Maritime Zones of Islands in International Law (1979),Ireland and the Law of the Sea (1993/2000),Historic Waters in the Law of the Sea (2008) and editorship of Selected Contemporary Issues in the Law of the Sea (2011).

He has been a member of several maritime law study groups, and has acted as a legal advisor to the Irish Government. He has also acted as expert witness for the US Government in two rounds of US Supreme Court litigation between the US and Alaska on maritime issues, including the question of possible Alaskan historic waters in the Alexander Archipelago (2000).

In 2013 he gave papers at three Far Eastern locations (Singapore, China and Vietnam) on legal issues relating to the South China Sea dispute, including the question of historic waters and rights, which are now contained in book publications (see, eg., UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the South China Sea, eds. Wu, Valencia and Hong, Ashgate(2015),pp.191-239).

Stefan Talmon, Professor of University of Bonn

Stefan Talmon is Professor of Public Law, Public International Law and European Union Law, and Director of the Institute of Public International Law at the University of Bonn. He is also a Supernumerary Fellow of St. Anne's College, Oxford. Prior to taking up the chair at Bonn in October 2011 he was Professor of Public International Law at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St. Anne's College, Oxford. Professor Talmon practices as a Barrister from 20 Essex Street, London, and frequently advises States and transnational corporations on questions of public international law. He has appeared as counsel before the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights, arbitral tribunals (including ICSID) and the English courts.

Mark J. Valencia, Maritime Policy Analyst

Dr. Mark J. Valencia is an internationally recognized maritime policy analyst, political commentator and consultant focused on Asia. He has been a speaker at such high-level meetings as The World Knowledge Forum in Seoul, the Xiangshan Forum and the Bo'ao Forum for Asia hosted by China and the Canadian Navy's Maritime Security Challenges. He was a Senior Fellow with the East-West Center for 26 years where he originated, developed and managed international, interdisciplinary projects on maritime policy and international relations in Asia. Most recently he was a Visiting Senior Scholar at China's National Institute for South China Sea Studies and continues to be an Adjunct Senior Scholar with the Institute.

Before joining the East-West Center, Dr. Valencia was a Lecturer at the Universiti Sains Malaysia and a Technical Expert with the UNDP Regional Project on Offshore Prospecting based in Bangkok. He earned a Ph.D in Oceanography and a Diploma in the Asian Overseas Career Program from the University of Hawaii, and a M.A. in Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island.

Dr. Valencia has also been an Associate of the National Asia Research Program co-sponsored by the National Bureau of Asia Research and the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Maritime Institute of Malaysia and a Visiting Senior Scholar at Japan's Ocean Policy Research Foundation. He was a Fulbright Fellow to Australia (2007) and to Malaysia (1985) , an Abe Fellow, a DAAD (German Government) Fellow, an International Institute for Asian Studies ( Leiden University) Visiting Fellow , and a U.S. State Department –sponsored international speaker. He has also been a consultant to international organizations ( e.g., IMO, UNDP , UNU, PEMSEA); government institutions and agencies ( in, e.g., Canada, Japan, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and the USA); and numerous private entities (e.g. , Shell ,CONOCO , and legal firms dealing with maritime issues.

Dr. Valencia has published some 15 books and about 100 peer-reviewed journal articles. He is also a very frequent contributor to prominent public media with opeds in the Far Eastern Economic Review, International Herald Tribune, Asia Wall Street Journal, Japan Times, Straits Times, South China Morning Post and Washington Times. Selected major policy relevant works include The Proliferation Security Initiative : Making Waves in Asia (Adelphi Paper 376, International Institute for Strategic Studies, October 2005), Military and Intelligence Gathering Activities in the Exclusive Economic Zone : Consensus and Disagreement (co-editor, Marine Policy Special Issues, March 2005 and January 2004); Maritime Regime Building: Lessons Learned and Their Relevance for Northeast Asia (Martinus Nijhoff, 2002); Sharing the Resources of the South China Sea (with Jon Van Dyke and Noel Ludwig, Martinus Nijhoff, 1997); A Maritime Regime for Northeast Asia (Oxford University Press, 1996); China and the South China Sea Disputes (Adelphi Paper 298, Institute for International and Strategic Studies, 1995); Atlas for Marine Policy in East Asian Seas (with Joseph Morgan, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1992); and Pacific Ocean Boundary Problems: Status and Solutions (with Douglas Johnston, Martinus Nijhoff, 1991).

Chris Whomersley, Former Deputy of Legal Adviser Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Mr Chris Whomersley, former Deputy Legal Adviser in the United Kingdom's Foreign & Commonwealth Office, spent more than thirty-six years as a member of the Legal Advisers in the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth, rising to become Deputy Legal Adviser. He advised on a wide variety of topics, but for the last ten years of his career he was responsible for law of the sea matters, both bilaterally and multilaterally. He was involved in several maritime delimitation negotiations, around the United Kingdom as well as around the UK's overseas territories in the Caribbean. In particular Chris was responsible for the negotiations to establish the UK's EEZ boundaries with its eight maritime neighbours. In 2014 Chris was honoured by Her Majesty the Queen for his services to international law.

Shicun Wu, President of National Institute for South China Sea Studies

Wu Shicun has a PhD in history and is president and senior research fellow of China's National Institute for South China Sea Studies, deputy director of the Collaborative Innovation Center of South China Sea Studies, Nanjing University, and member of Foreign Policy Advisory Group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China.

Dr Wu's research interests cover the history and geography of the South China Sea, maritime delimitation, maritime economy, international relations and regional security strategy. His main single-authored books include What One Needs to Know about the Disputes between China and the Philippines (Current Affairs Press, 2015), What One Needs to Know about the South China Sea (Current Affairs Press, 2015), Solving Disputes for Regional Cooperation and Development in the South China Sea: A Chinese perspective (Woodhead Publishing, 2013). His main edited books include: Arbitration Concerning the South China Sea: Philippines versus China （Routledge, 2016），UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the South China Sea (Ashgate, 2015), Non-Traditional Security Issues and the South China Sea-Shaping a New Framework for Cooperation (Ashgate, 2014), Recent Developments in the South China Sea Dispute: The Prospect of a Joint Development Regime (Routledge, 2014). Dr Wu has published widely in academic journals and been the subject of frequent media interviews as a senior commentator on South China Sea, and other regional security issues.

Judge Hanqin Xue, Judge of International Court of Justice

Born in Shanghai, China, on 15 September 1955.

B.A., Beijing Foreign Language Studies University (1980); Diploma of International law, Beijing University, Department of Law (1982); LL.M., Columbia University School of Law (1983); J.S.D., Columbia University School of Law (1995).

Professor at Wuhan University School of Law. Vice-President and Board member, Chinese Society of International Law. Vice-President Chinese Society of Private International Law. Associate, Institut de droit international (2005). Member, Institut de droit international (since 2009). President, Asian Society of International Law. Member of the Curatorium of the Hague Academy of International Law (since 2010).

Entered the Foreign Ministry of China (1980). Deputy Director-General, Department of Treaty and Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1994-1999). Director-General, Department of Treaty and Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1999-2003). Ambassador of China to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Permanent Representative of China to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (2003-2008). Ambassador to ASEAN, Legal Counsel of the Ministry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China (2008-2010). Member of the International Law Commission (elected in 2001 and re-elected in 2006 by the United Nations General Assembly for the term 2007-2011). Chairman of the International Law Commission (2010).

Sienho Yee, Professor of Law School of Wuhan University

Sienho Yee's research interests are in public international law (PIL), especially the jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the structural questions of the international legal system. His articles have appeared in fine journals (List of publications) such as American Journal of International Law, Columbia Law Review, European Journal of International Law, German Yearbook of International Law, International and Comparative Law Quarterly (ICLQ), Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law, and Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, and some have been used as reading materials in august universities and cited in good casebooks, and cited, reviewed, abstracted, debated in good journals and used in international litigation. His educational and professional qualifications include his Juris Doctor degree in 1993 from Columbia Univ. Law School (Columbia Law Review note author) and membership in the Bar of New York State (1994) and the Bar of the US Supreme Court (2004). He was also a student in some other interesting places.

He became a membre associé of Institut de droit international (IDI) in 2009 in Napoli at 44, and membre in 2013 in Tokyo. He is also a Headquarters member of the International Law Association.

Xinjun Zhang, Associate Professor of Law School Tsinghua University

Xinjun Zhang is an Associate Professor of Public International Law at Tsinghua University, Beijing. His research interests include the Law of the Sea, International Environmental Law, Non-proliferation Law and the Law of Treaties. Publication includes: "The Latest Developments of the US Freedom of Navigation Programs in the South China Sea: Deregulation or Re-balance?" (2016), "Jurisdictional Objection to the Philippines' Submissions regarding Nine-dash Line：Exclusion of the Dispute concerning Sources of Maritime Entitlements under UNCLOS Article 298.1（a）（i）"(2016 Chinese), "Diaoyu/Senkaku Dilemma: to Be or not to Be" (2014), "The ITLOS Judgment in the Bay of Bengal Case between Bangladesh and Myanmar" (2013), "Intentional Ambiguity and the Rule of Interpretation in Auto-interpretation: the case of "inalienable right" in NPT Article IV" (2009). He is the Executive Director of the Center for the Law of the Sea Study in Tsinghua Law School.

Keyuan Zou, Harris Professor of International Law at the Lancashire Law School of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), United Kingdom

Keyuan ZOU is Harris Professor of International Law at the Lancashire Law School of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), United Kingdom. He specializes in international law, in particular law of the sea and international environmental law. Before joining UCLan, he worked at Dalhousie University (Canada), Peking University (China), University of Hannover (Germany) and National University of Singapore.

He has published over 60 refereed English papers in over 30 international journals including Asian Yearbook of International Law, Asia-Pacific Journal of Environmental Law, Chinese Journal of International Law, Columbia Journal of International Affairs, Criminal Law Forum, German Yearbook of International Law, International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, International Lawyer, Journal of Environmental Law, Journal of International Maritime Law, Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy, Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce, Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, Marine Policy, Maritime Policy and Management, Netherlands International Law Review, Ocean Development and International Law, Ocean Yearbook, Singapore Journal of International and Comparative Law, Ocean and Coastal Management and Yearbook Law and Legal Practice in East Asia.

His single-authored books include Law of the Sea in East Asia: Issues and Prospects (London/New York: Routledge, 2005), China's Marine Legal System and the Law of the Sea (Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff, 2005), China's Legal Reform: Towards the Rule of Law (Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff, 2006), and China-ASEAN Relations and International Law (Oxford: Chandos, 2009). His recent co-edited volumes include Securing the Safety of Navigation in East Asia (Oxford: Chandos, 2013), Non-traditional Security Issues and the South China Sea (Ashgate, 2014), Arbitration concerning the South China Sea: Philippines v. China (Ashgate, 2016).

He is member of Editorial Boards of the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law (Martinus Nijhoff), Ocean Development and International Law (Taylor & Francis), Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy (Taylor & Francis), Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies (Copenhagen Business School), Journal of Territorial and Maritime Studies (Northeast Asian History Foundation), Asia-Pacific Security and Maritime Affairs (Nanjing University), and Chinese Journal of International Law (Oxford University Press), and Advisory Boards of the Chinese Oceans Law Review (Hong Kong: China Review Culture Limited), Global Journal of Comparative Law (Brill), Asia-Pacific Journal of Ocean Law and Policy (Brill), and Korean Journal of International & Comparative Law (Brill).