On The Sovereign Rights Over Territorial Waters In Chinese Modern Times

The territorial waters is the water area administered by a state, including inland water and territorial sea. Violating the integrity of a country's territorial waters means committing aggression to it. Thus , the sovereign rights over territorial waters should not be ignored. During forfeiting its sovereignty in modern times of China, it is the most serious that the sovereign rights of territorial waters was damage. The western countries invaded China seaward before the Opium War. They tried to violate the territorial waters' integrity of China. After the Opium War, the Big Powers grabbed Chinese sovereign rights over territorial waters at the aid of warships and unequal treaties. Therefore, Chinese territorial waters became open waters. Chinese sovereign rights over the territorial waters were damaged seriously. To probe into this problem is the aim of the thesis . The thesis is divided into three parts: introduction, text and concluding remarks.In the introduction we not only give a detailed description to the present situation of the study in this field, but also explain some concepts relative to the problem and point out some new ideas and shortcoming of our study .The text is divided into two parts. Part I consists of the first three chapters of the thesis, which mainly study the changes of the sovereign rights over territorial waters in Modern times of China. In the first chapter we probe into the situation of the sovereign rights over territorial waters before the Opium War. We believe that the West tried to give a challenge to Chinese sovereign rights over territorial waters, but Chinese government was able to safeguard national independence and the integrity ofsovereignty at that time. We expound briefly the damage the Big Powers did to Chinese sovereignty rights over the territorial waters in the second chapter and point out that the integrity of sovereignty over the territorial waters was more seriously damaged than ever before.The third chapter studies simply the restitution of the sovereign rights over territorial waters, relating to the consciousness of sovereign rights over the territorial waters.Part II consists of six chapters: from the fourth to the ninth chapter. We selectively discuss the more prominent problems involving the sovereign rights over the territorial waters.In the fourth chapter we inquiry into the history when the Big Powers grabbed the rights of cabotage and inland navigation .These rights are important components of the sovereign rights over the territorial waters . The lose of them indicated that the sovereign rights over the territorial waters were damaged seriously. We think, the lose of the right of cabotage meant that the territorial sea of China became high sea of the Big Powers, and the lose of the right of inland navigation demonstrated that the territorial waters of China was open thoroughly.We focus on the formation and harm of the foreign pilot system in the fifth chapter. We stress that the lose of the piloting right brought about aftermath in Modern times of China.In the sixth and seventh chapter we study the problems brought about by the foreign warships garrisoned along the territorial waters of China . We not only discuss the formation and content of the system that foreign warships garrisoned along the territorial waters in China , but also give a dynamic account of its enforcement. We believe thatthis system did great harm to the sovereign rights over the territorial waters .The eighth chapter analyses the problem of the jurisdiction right about sovereign rights over the territorial waters, mainly including the jurisdiction right over foreign merchant ship and warships. In Modern China , foreign merchant ships and warships were not under the jurisdiction of Chinese government absolutely.The ninth chapter relates to the problem that foreigners fished in the waters of China illegally. We think , since the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the problem of protecting the fishery right of China has become increasingl...