Chapter 1
China and the Law of the Sea: Historical
Aspects
Keyuan Zou
1.1 Introduction
It is only recently that China has gradually turned its attention to the oceans. Looking
back at Chinese history, China was basically a land-based country without a vision
for ocean exploration except for a short period during the Ming Dynasty (1368–
1644) when Zheng He led Chinese fleets seven times (1405-33) to sail as far as to the
African coasts. The Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) enforced the “forbidden to the sea”
policy which prohibited Chinese people from going out to sea and the violators were
subject to the death penalty. In the early period of the People’s Republic of China
(PRC), China basically maintained land-based policy and only sporadically issued
governmental documents concerning the oceans. The most important at that time is
the Declaration on the Territorial Sea proclaimed on 4 September 1958, in which
China claimed its territorial sea of 12 nautical miles.
1 Regarding fishery management,
China issued an Order on the Motor Trawl Prohibition Zones in Bohai, the Yellow
Sea, and the East China Sea to establish prohibition zones to deter flood of Japanese
fishing boats.
2 After the PRC replaced the Republic of China (ROC) for the seat
of China in the United Nations in 1971, the Chinese government sent delegations
to the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (1973–1982). However, China
used this international forum attacking the two China-perceived superpowers—the
former Soviet Union and the United States.
1 Office of Policy, Law and Regulation, State Oceanic Administration (ed.), Collection of the Sea
Laws and Regulations of the People’s Republic of China (Beijing: Ocean Press, 1998), 182–183.
2 Zou Keyuan, “Sino-Japanese Joint Fishery Management in the East China Sea”, Marine Policy,
2003, Vol. 27 (2), 126.
K. Zou (B)
University of Central Lancashire, Lancashire, UK
e-mail: KZou@uclan.ac.uk
© Kobe University 2021
D. Tamada and K. Zou (eds.), Implementation of the United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea, Kobe University Monograph Series in Social Science Research,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6954-2_1
3
China and the Law of the Sea: Historical
Aspects
Keyuan Zou
1.1 Introduction
It is only recently that China has gradually turned its attention to the oceans. Looking
back at Chinese history, China was basically a land-based country without a vision
for ocean exploration except for a short period during the Ming Dynasty (1368–
1644) when Zheng He led Chinese fleets seven times (1405-33) to sail as far as to the
African coasts. The Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) enforced the “forbidden to the sea”
policy which prohibited Chinese people from going out to sea and the violators were
subject to the death penalty. In the early period of the People’s Republic of China
(PRC), China basically maintained land-based policy and only sporadically issued
governmental documents concerning the oceans. The most important at that time is
the Declaration on the Territorial Sea proclaimed on 4 September 1958, in which
China claimed its territorial sea of 12 nautical miles.
1 Regarding fishery management,
China issued an Order on the Motor Trawl Prohibition Zones in Bohai, the Yellow
Sea, and the East China Sea to establish prohibition zones to deter flood of Japanese
fishing boats.
2 After the PRC replaced the Republic of China (ROC) for the seat
of China in the United Nations in 1971, the Chinese government sent delegations
to the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (1973–1982). However, China
used this international forum attacking the two China-perceived superpowers—the
former Soviet Union and the United States.
1 Office of Policy, Law and Regulation, State Oceanic Administration (ed.), Collection of the Sea
Laws and Regulations of the People’s Republic of China (Beijing: Ocean Press, 1998), 182–183.
2 Zou Keyuan, “Sino-Japanese Joint Fishery Management in the East China Sea”, Marine Policy,
2003, Vol. 27 (2), 126.
K. Zou (B)
University of Central Lancashire, Lancashire, UK
e-mail: KZou@uclan.ac.uk
© Kobe University 2021
D. Tamada and K. Zou (eds.), Implementation of the United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea, Kobe University Monograph Series in Social Science Research,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6954-2_1
3