How Valid Are The South China Sea Claims Under The Law Of The Sea Convention
The South China Sea disputes continue to plague policy-makers and defy solution. Six governments ? China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philip pines, and Brunei ? claim all or some of the islands and rocks in the south central South China Sea, known as the Spratly Islands, as well as all or some of the surrounding sea, seafloor, and associated resources. And all except Brunei have military forces on their claimed features. This article reviews the conflicting claims and recent developments in the context of regional politics and international law, including the law of the sea. China's 1995 occupation of Mischief Reef on the Philippine-claimed con tinental shelf and its 1999 construction of fort-like structures there consider
Bibliography
This Bibliography lists recently published secondary material relating to energy and natural resources law and policy. A cumulative subject index and author index appear in the fourth number of each volume. Authors are invited to send copies of their articles or books for inclusion in the Bibliography to Rona Carstairs, Information Services Manager, at the above address. For further information on the wide range of information services and to acquire a current CEPMLP publications list please contact Rona Carstairs on: Tel: +44(0) 1382 344302 Fax: +44(0) 1382 322578 E-mail: r.m.carstairs@dundee.ac.uk www.cepmlp.org
The Spratly Islands and the Law of the Sea: Dangerous Ground for Asian Peace
SINCE THE END of World War II, as it has become more practical to use the resources in and under the sea, more and more restrictions have been placed on who may exploit them. Beginning with the acceptance of a nation's continental shelf as a "natural prolongation of a nation's 'land area'," coastal states have gradually come to assert more and more control over the seas-that is, over what used to be the traditional three miles from their shores. The doctrine of continental shelf proved unacceptable to many nations that have extremely narrow continental shelves, from which the ocean bottom slopes rapidly downward into deep trenches. The doctrine of continental shelf did not permit a state to exert control over the sea bottom below 200 meters. As a result, within eight years of the 1945 Truman Proclamation on the Continental Shelf, many Latin American nations began to formulate their own definitions of national sovereignty over the oceans by proclaiming a 200-mile territorial sea limit as an alternative principle. For 15 years, these positions existed side by side. In 1968, however, when the Soviet Union attempted to gain acceptance for a twelve-mile territorial sea limit, with an attendant fishery jurisdiction, many Latin American, African, and Asian nations which had not previously committed themselves on this issue began to support the 200-mile limit.