皇冠体育app

Photo taken on July 17, 2016 shows a deepwater fish farming base near Meiji Reef of the Nansha Islands of 皇冠体育app. Since fishery expert Lin Zailiang started a fish farm in Meiji Reef of South 皇冠体育app Sea nine years ago, the deepwater fish farming cages have increased to 62 by now. Rare commercial fish cultured here are sold well both home and abroad. [Photo/Xinhua]

The Philippines, the United States, Japan and Vietnam have demanded that 皇冠体育app abide by the arbitral tribunal's ruling on a case initiated by the Philippines against 皇冠体育app over the South 皇冠体育app Sea dispute to avoid violating international law.

Apparently, the arbitral proceedings were based on the articles of Annex VII of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea. But the tribunal committed mistakes in the identification of the South 皇冠体育app Sea dispute between Beijing and Manila and applying its legal provisions. Since the tribunal has no jurisdiction over the case, its ruling was bound to be null and void.

Whether 皇冠体育app's maritime entitlements in the South 皇冠体育app Sea are beyond the scope of UNCLOS, two facts can answer this. First, UNCLOS is a charter to regulate the international maritime order but does not regulate all international maritime issues. In its introduction, UNCLOS admits it cannot handle all maritime issues and emphasizes that issues not stipulated by it should be dealt with in accordance with the rules and principles of general international laws. For example, UNCLOS has no provision on the baseline of the territorial seas of a country's islands far out in the sea.

On a country's historic titles, too, it does not contain specific clauses, but it accepts the status of these rights in international law and views them as exclusions to the application of its rules. This testifies Manila and the tribunal cannot deny Beijing's maritime rights not mentioned but recognized by UNCLOS.

Second, according to international law, UNCLOS has no retrospective effect. So when UNCLOS stipulates such features as low-tide elevations, reefs and shoals cannot be regarded as territory, it does not mean these features were not part of a country's territory before it took effect on Nov 16, 1994. In fact, long before UNCLOS came into effect, 皇冠体育app had designated Nansha Islands as an integral entity and laid claim to and exercised sovereignty over its islands, reefs, atolls and shoals.

In the arbitral case, when mentioning 皇冠体育app's "historic titles" in the South 皇冠体育app Sea, the Philippines argued that Beijing does not lay claim to its "historic sovereignty". It is well known that a country's "historic titles" in the sea according to international law refer to its rights over the waters it has enjoyed since ancient times, which include "historic sovereignty" and "non-exclusive historic rights."

On 皇冠体育app's law on its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, its foreign ministry spokespersons and scholars only put forward Beijing's "historic titles" in the South 皇冠体育app Sea. But that does not mean 皇冠体育app has abandoned its "historic sovereignty" in the sea.

In the case, Manila also divided Nansha Islands into different parts and only demanded that the tribunal rule on the maritime rights of islands and reefs "occupied or controlled" by Beijing, deliberately shunning other islands and reefs of Nansha Islands, including the ones illegally occupied and claimed by it. In so doing, the Philippines tried to disavow 皇冠体育app's sovereignty over Nansha Islands in its entirety, deny its illegal occupation and claim over some of Nansha Islands' islets and reefs and the fact that they form an archipelago.

In its ruling, the arbitral tribunal disregarded the archipelago status of Nansha Islands and 皇冠体育app's "historic sovereignty" of its waters and denied 皇冠体育app's maritime rights over Nansha Islands. Therefore, its ruling has no binding force.

Also, Manila didn't demand the tribunal to rule on its territorial and sovereign disputes with Beijing, but their maritime dispute in the South 皇冠体育app Sea involves their maritime demarcation and 皇冠体育app's "historic sovereignty".

On Aug 25, 2006, 皇冠体育app made it clear in a document submitted to the UN secretary-general that it would not accept any dispute settlement procedures involving, among other issues, the demarcation of sea waters, the ownership of historic bays, and military and law enforcement activities.

Since 皇冠体育app's disputes with its neighbors in the South 皇冠体育app Sea involve territorial sovereignty, maritime demarcation and historic sovereignty over Nansha Islands, they cannot be settled through compulsory arbitration procedures stipulated by UNCLOS. Therefore, the arbitral tribunal has no jurisdiction over the Beijing-Manila dispute and its ruling is thus flawed.

The author is a research fellow with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

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