As an important part of the Package Deal of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (hereinafter referred to as "the Convention" or UNCLOS), the Optional Exceptions to Applicability of Compulsory Procedures Entailing Binding Decisions (hereinafter referred to as Article 298), which located on an important balanced position in the compulsory dispute settlement mechanism, has been utilized more and more frequently by the contracting parties since the entry into force of the Convention, to exempt specific maritime disputes from the jurisdiction of Section II of the Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the Convention. In South China Sea Arbitration, it is also an important legal basis for China to against the jurisdiction of the Annex VII Arbitration Tribunal.
In the event that the jurisdiction of "compulsory procedures" under the Convention presents an expanding tendency, the "optional exception" clause under Article 298 will be a key point in the contracting parties-protection of the right of independent settlement of "sensitive" disputes in the practice of maritime dispute settlement. From the perspective of national interest, we could only define the legal effect of "optional exception" clause under Article 298 after clarifying its legal nature, thus opening up the legal and logistic path for its application so that we could realize maximized profit for our country in the future settlement of maritime disputes.