| Over the past decade or so, increasing attention has been given to the study of marine policy because of coastal states' increasing use of the oceans and the reformulation of the law of the sea by the UN Convention of 1982. However, emphasis has been mainly on the marine policy of developed nations. The Third World countries and specifically the People's Republic of China have been largely neglected. Recognizing the fact that China is emerging as a major maritime power, this study examines its attitudes toward the new ocean regime and marine policy. Among issues of concern to this study are offshore oil exploration and exploitation, marine fisheries, shipping and shipbuilding, marine scientific research and marine pollution, and the military uses of the oceans.; This study is an interdisciplinary effort. It suggests that China's marine policy is determined by external and internal policy inputs. The external policy inputs include trends in the international system, changes of the international power structures and other states' ocean policies. The major internal policy inputs include geographical features, economic development, changes of the political leadership and ideology and national security concern, etc.; Before 1976, political and ideological factors played an important role in shaping China's marine policy. Since 1976, however, economic considerations have become more pronounced in the Chinese marine policy decision-making process. Because of its historical experience of foreign invasion from the sea and the perception of the Soviet maritime threat in the Asian-Pacific region, military uses of the oceans have continued to be treated as a major element in molding the Chinese marine policy. In the 1980s, due to the importance of energy to China's "Four Modernizations" plans, offshore oil exploration and exploitation has received more concern from the Chinese policy makers.; Although China has failed to work out an integrated marine policy that could help it maximize the benefits from using the ocean and its resources, its performance in each of the individual sectors of marine policy has in general been quite impressive. |
