A LEGAL DISPUTE IN SOUTH CHINA SEA: THIRD ROUND

The article analyzes the situation in the South China Sea region in the first half of 2020 and shows how it changed as a result of the intensification of China's actions, which caused a new round of legal dispute between it and the ASEAN coastal countries. It was found that in conditions when Chinese economic, military and diplomatic expansion has reached a fundamentally new level, the Southeast Asian countries took their dispute with the PRC beyond the framework of bilateral relations, raising it to the UN level. The specific position of four ASEAN countries - Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia- is revealed, which, despite differences in assessments of Beijing's policy in the SCM, opposed it as a united front, appealing to the verdict of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on July 12, 2016 as an important source of international law. The position of the United States, which actually plays in support of Vietnam, is also considered.