10
K. Zou
coastal sea areas as its internal waters, although at that time the exact delineation was
not publicly known.
30 Also in the Declaration, Bohai Bay is considered as China’s
internal waters. There are two regulations concerning the passage of merchant vessels
through the Lao Tieh Shan Channel and within the inner water area of the Encounter
Rock in the Bohai Sea (or Bay).
31 The historical reasons
32 behind the Declaration
concerning Qiongzhou and Bohai are relevant to China’s historic rights in the South
China Sea. It is recalled that China recognized the Soviet historic bay claim to the
Peter the Great Bay in 1957.
33
Regarding the South China Sea islands, it declared that the Dongsha Islands, the
Xisha Islands, the Zhongsha Islands, and the Nansha Islands all belonged to China.
34
It provides that the method measuring the Chinese territorial sea of 12 nautical miles
by straight baselines for the mainland and its coastal islands is also applicable to
the archipelagos in the South China Sea. However, the Declaration did not mention
China’s U-shaped line in the South China Sea.
The Declaration signifies China (PRC)’s position concerning the law of the sea
and it is the first time that PRC expressed its position regarding the regulation of the
territorial sea. It is more significant if we look at it in combination with the adoption
of the four Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea in April the same year.
35 It
is also worth mentioning that PRC at that time was not a UN member and neither a
signatory to the four Geneva Conventions.
1.4 China and the UNCLOS III
It is in fact that the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (1973–1982) was
the first grant diplomatic conference that the Chinese Government sent its delegation
to after the PRC replaced the Republic of China (ROC) for the seat of China in
the United Nations in 1971. As a new comer, China might not have well prepared
for such a conference and at the same time was highly influenced ideologically
under Mao as the year of 1973 was still within the period of the Cultural Revolution
30 Zou Keyuan, ‘Navigation of Foreign Vessels within China’s Jurisdictional Waters’, Maritime
Policy & Management, 2002, 29:4, pp. 351–374.
31 Zou, ibid., 351–374.
32 “In several thousand years of history it has been constantly under the actual jurisdiction of our
country, and not only has our country always considered it as an internal sea, but also [in fact] is
internationally recognized”. Fu Chu, Concerning the Question of Our Country’s Territorial Sea,
Beijing, 1959; translated in J.A. Cohen and Hungdah Chiu, People’s China and International Law
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974) at 484.
33 See People’s Daily (in Chinese), 23 September 1957.
34 See Office of Laws and Regulations, supra note 1, p. 3.
35 They are: Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone (in force: 10 September 1964),
Convention on the Continental Shelf (in force: 10 June 1964), Convention on the High Seas (in
force: 30 September 1962), and Convention on Fishing and Conservation of Living Resources of
the High Seas (in force: 20 March 1966).
K. Zou
coastal sea areas as its internal waters, although at that time the exact delineation was
not publicly known.
30 Also in the Declaration, Bohai Bay is considered as China’s
internal waters. There are two regulations concerning the passage of merchant vessels
through the Lao Tieh Shan Channel and within the inner water area of the Encounter
Rock in the Bohai Sea (or Bay).
31 The historical reasons
32 behind the Declaration
concerning Qiongzhou and Bohai are relevant to China’s historic rights in the South
China Sea. It is recalled that China recognized the Soviet historic bay claim to the
Peter the Great Bay in 1957.
33
Regarding the South China Sea islands, it declared that the Dongsha Islands, the
Xisha Islands, the Zhongsha Islands, and the Nansha Islands all belonged to China.
34
It provides that the method measuring the Chinese territorial sea of 12 nautical miles
by straight baselines for the mainland and its coastal islands is also applicable to
the archipelagos in the South China Sea. However, the Declaration did not mention
China’s U-shaped line in the South China Sea.
The Declaration signifies China (PRC)’s position concerning the law of the sea
and it is the first time that PRC expressed its position regarding the regulation of the
territorial sea. It is more significant if we look at it in combination with the adoption
of the four Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea in April the same year.
35 It
is also worth mentioning that PRC at that time was not a UN member and neither a
signatory to the four Geneva Conventions.
1.4 China and the UNCLOS III
It is in fact that the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (1973–1982) was
the first grant diplomatic conference that the Chinese Government sent its delegation
to after the PRC replaced the Republic of China (ROC) for the seat of China in
the United Nations in 1971. As a new comer, China might not have well prepared
for such a conference and at the same time was highly influenced ideologically
under Mao as the year of 1973 was still within the period of the Cultural Revolution
30 Zou Keyuan, ‘Navigation of Foreign Vessels within China’s Jurisdictional Waters’, Maritime
Policy & Management, 2002, 29:4, pp. 351–374.
31 Zou, ibid., 351–374.
32 “In several thousand years of history it has been constantly under the actual jurisdiction of our
country, and not only has our country always considered it as an internal sea, but also [in fact] is
internationally recognized”. Fu Chu, Concerning the Question of Our Country’s Territorial Sea,
Beijing, 1959; translated in J.A. Cohen and Hungdah Chiu, People’s China and International Law
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974) at 484.
33 See People’s Daily (in Chinese), 23 September 1957.
34 See Office of Laws and Regulations, supra note 1, p. 3.
35 They are: Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone (in force: 10 September 1964),
Convention on the Continental Shelf (in force: 10 June 1964), Convention on the High Seas (in
force: 30 September 1962), and Convention on Fishing and Conservation of Living Resources of
the High Seas (in force: 20 March 1966).