9 Chinese Law and Policy on Marine Environmental Protection
153
Despite the significant law-making progress, gaps do remain. The effectiveness
of the legal framework depends upon the positive response of all relevant states
to cooperate and the capacity of individual states to implement their own policy
and laws on marine environmental protection. China has made efforts to improve the
condition of marine environment. This chapter aims to provide an overview of policy
and regulatory framework of China on the issue of marine environmental protection.
The currently institutional developments and the remaining challenges China faces
will also be discussed.
9.2 Marine Geography and Environment Status
China, with a total of 9.6 million square, is the third largest country in the world, and
it is also a costal state with very long coastlines.
14 China’s coastlines run 32,000 km,
including the coastlines of 65,000 islands.
15 The coastlines of mainland are more
than 18,000 km from the Yalu River in Liaoning Province in the north to the Beilung
River in the Guangxi Autonomous Region in the south.
16 The seas adjacent to the
mainland include one internal sea: the Bohai Sea, and three semi-enclosed seas: East
China Sea, Yellow Sea and South China Sea.
The Bohai Sea is located at the north part of the China seas, with an area of
78,000 km.
17 It lies between the Shandong and Liaodong peninsulas and is linked
to the Yellow Sea by the Bohai Strait, which is 45 nautical miles wide.
18 The Bohai
Sea is not only an internal sea of China, but also a shallow sea, with an average water
depth of 18 m and the maximum depth is 70 m.
19 The Bohai Sea has rich reserves
of marine living and non-living resources, it has been identified as an important
fishing ground of China and contains a large amount of oil fields.
20 The coastal
areas of Bohai Sea include Hebei, Liaoning, Tianjin and Shandong Province and
issues, together as a whole, including marine genetic resources, area-based management tools, environment assessments and capacity building and the transfer of marine technology. Currently, the
negotiation of the new agreement has entered a critical stage towards a draft text based on the
adopted element.
14 Keyuan Zou, China’s Marine Legal System and the Law of the Sea, Brill, 2005, p. 4.
15 Y. Wang, J. Su, R. Liu (editors), Oceanography of China. Beijing: Science Press, 2002, p. 5.
16 Ibid.
17 J.Y. Liu, Status of Marine Biodiversity of the China Seas, 8 January 2013, available at https://jou
rnals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0050719, last accessed 20 January 2020.
18 See supra note 14.
19 Ibid.
20 C. W. Bian, W. S. Jang, T. Pohlmann, J. Sündermann, Hydrography-physical description of the
Bohai Sea,Journal of Coastal Research: Special Issue 74—Environmental Processes and the Natural
and Anthropogenic Forcing in the Bohai Sea, Eastern Asia, 2016, p. 1.
153
Despite the significant law-making progress, gaps do remain. The effectiveness
of the legal framework depends upon the positive response of all relevant states
to cooperate and the capacity of individual states to implement their own policy
and laws on marine environmental protection. China has made efforts to improve the
condition of marine environment. This chapter aims to provide an overview of policy
and regulatory framework of China on the issue of marine environmental protection.
The currently institutional developments and the remaining challenges China faces
will also be discussed.
9.2 Marine Geography and Environment Status
China, with a total of 9.6 million square, is the third largest country in the world, and
it is also a costal state with very long coastlines.
14 China’s coastlines run 32,000 km,
including the coastlines of 65,000 islands.
15 The coastlines of mainland are more
than 18,000 km from the Yalu River in Liaoning Province in the north to the Beilung
River in the Guangxi Autonomous Region in the south.
16 The seas adjacent to the
mainland include one internal sea: the Bohai Sea, and three semi-enclosed seas: East
China Sea, Yellow Sea and South China Sea.
The Bohai Sea is located at the north part of the China seas, with an area of
78,000 km.
17 It lies between the Shandong and Liaodong peninsulas and is linked
to the Yellow Sea by the Bohai Strait, which is 45 nautical miles wide.
18 The Bohai
Sea is not only an internal sea of China, but also a shallow sea, with an average water
depth of 18 m and the maximum depth is 70 m.
19 The Bohai Sea has rich reserves
of marine living and non-living resources, it has been identified as an important
fishing ground of China and contains a large amount of oil fields.
20 The coastal
areas of Bohai Sea include Hebei, Liaoning, Tianjin and Shandong Province and
issues, together as a whole, including marine genetic resources, area-based management tools, environment assessments and capacity building and the transfer of marine technology. Currently, the
negotiation of the new agreement has entered a critical stage towards a draft text based on the
adopted element.
14 Keyuan Zou, China’s Marine Legal System and the Law of the Sea, Brill, 2005, p. 4.
15 Y. Wang, J. Su, R. Liu (editors), Oceanography of China. Beijing: Science Press, 2002, p. 5.
16 Ibid.
17 J.Y. Liu, Status of Marine Biodiversity of the China Seas, 8 January 2013, available at https://jou
rnals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0050719, last accessed 20 January 2020.
18 See supra note 14.
19 Ibid.
20 C. W. Bian, W. S. Jang, T. Pohlmann, J. Sündermann, Hydrography-physical description of the
Bohai Sea,Journal of Coastal Research: Special Issue 74—Environmental Processes and the Natural
and Anthropogenic Forcing in the Bohai Sea, Eastern Asia, 2016, p. 1.