3 The United Nations Convention …
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protect the public facilities legally established on islands for navigation assistance or
guidance, surveying, meteorological observation, marine monitoring, seismic monitoring, etc., and it shall be prohibited to damage, move without authorization or
impede the normal use of such facilities. As for an uninhabited island, Article 28
states that the status quo of an uninhabited island shall be maintained if the use of it
has not been approved; and such activities as quarrying, excavating sea sand, felling
trees, production, construction and tourism shall be prohibited. Where the development and utilization of an uninhabited island involve the utilization of any special
purpose island, or really need any sea filling to connect islands or connect the island
with continent or any serious change of the natural terrain or landform of the island,
it shall be subject to the examination and approval of the State Council (Article 30).
Of course, the state shall apply special protection to the islands where the territorial sea-base points are located, islands for the purpose of national defense, islands
within the marine natural reserves and other islands for special purposes or with
special conservation value (Article 36). Such provisions constitute the core content
of islands protection.
The Legislation and Core Content on Maritime Dispute Settlement Mechanism
It is known that there are disputes over territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation between China and other countries especially in the East China Sea and the South
China Sea. China sets forth in Article 2 of the Decision of the Standing Committee
of the National People’s Congress on Approving the United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea and Paragraph 3 of Article 2 of the Law of China on Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf that the delimitation shall be made
by agreement according to the principle of equity. In addition, other documents set
forth or show some principled provisions on dispute settlement which are mainly as
follows.
(1) China submitted a written declaration to the Secretary-General of the United
States on August 25, 2006 according to Article 298 of the UNCLOS, pointing out
that the Chinese government does not accept the jurisdiction of any international
justice or arbitration set forth in Sect. 3.2 of Party XV of the UNCLOS over
any dispute (such as sea boundary delimitation, territorial sovereignty, a dispute
concerning military activities) set forth in Item (a), (b) and (c) of Paragraph 1 of
Article 298 of the UNCLOS. In other words, China excludes the possibility of
applying international justice or arbitration to the settlement of marine disputes
concerning important national interests. Such position and attitude are especially
evident in the handling of the South China Sea Arbitration Case.
(2) On December 14, 2012, the People’s Republic of China submitted to the UN
Secretary-General the information on the outer limits of the continental shelf
as part of the East China Sea for supplementing the content of the Preliminary
Information of China the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf beyond 200
55
protect the public facilities legally established on islands for navigation assistance or
guidance, surveying, meteorological observation, marine monitoring, seismic monitoring, etc., and it shall be prohibited to damage, move without authorization or
impede the normal use of such facilities. As for an uninhabited island, Article 28
states that the status quo of an uninhabited island shall be maintained if the use of it
has not been approved; and such activities as quarrying, excavating sea sand, felling
trees, production, construction and tourism shall be prohibited. Where the development and utilization of an uninhabited island involve the utilization of any special
purpose island, or really need any sea filling to connect islands or connect the island
with continent or any serious change of the natural terrain or landform of the island,
it shall be subject to the examination and approval of the State Council (Article 30).
Of course, the state shall apply special protection to the islands where the territorial sea-base points are located, islands for the purpose of national defense, islands
within the marine natural reserves and other islands for special purposes or with
special conservation value (Article 36). Such provisions constitute the core content
of islands protection.
The Legislation and Core Content on Maritime Dispute Settlement Mechanism
It is known that there are disputes over territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation between China and other countries especially in the East China Sea and the South
China Sea. China sets forth in Article 2 of the Decision of the Standing Committee
of the National People’s Congress on Approving the United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea and Paragraph 3 of Article 2 of the Law of China on Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf that the delimitation shall be made
by agreement according to the principle of equity. In addition, other documents set
forth or show some principled provisions on dispute settlement which are mainly as
follows.
(1) China submitted a written declaration to the Secretary-General of the United
States on August 25, 2006 according to Article 298 of the UNCLOS, pointing out
that the Chinese government does not accept the jurisdiction of any international
justice or arbitration set forth in Sect. 3.2 of Party XV of the UNCLOS over
any dispute (such as sea boundary delimitation, territorial sovereignty, a dispute
concerning military activities) set forth in Item (a), (b) and (c) of Paragraph 1 of
Article 298 of the UNCLOS. In other words, China excludes the possibility of
applying international justice or arbitration to the settlement of marine disputes
concerning important national interests. Such position and attitude are especially
evident in the handling of the South China Sea Arbitration Case.
(2) On December 14, 2012, the People’s Republic of China submitted to the UN
Secretary-General the information on the outer limits of the continental shelf
as part of the East China Sea for supplementing the content of the Preliminary
Information of China the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf beyond 200