On The Settlement Of Maritime Delimitation Disputes Of China Through Legal Method

There are complicated disputes regarding the maritime delimitation among China and the neighboring countries in the areas of Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea. The Chinese government intended to delimit such sea areas through negotiations in a long time, however, such position might cause that the relevant maritime delimitations cannot be completed for a long period, so as to incur some disadvantages. In addition to negotiation, the legal method was also usually used to settle the disputes of maritime delimitation. This Paper is trying to preliminarily review the feasibility for settling the disputes regarding maritime delimitation faced by China through legal method and the relevant detailed approaches, for the purpose of benefiting the final settlement of such disputes.Chapter 1 of this Paper will outline the disputes of maritime delimitation in respective sea area of China and the current status of the settlement process, the positions of the relevant countries regarding the maritime delimitation will also be introduced. Chapter 2 reviews the practice to settle the disputes of maritime delimitation through legal method in the international community so far. Using legal method to solve the maritime delimitation disputes has the benefits of high efficiency, effective and non-political etc. After 40 years practices, the international rules, the method for delimitation and relevant circumstance adopted by the ICJ or tribunals had been stable and predictable to some extent. Chapter 3 of this Paper discusses the feasibility for settling the disputes of maritime delimitation through legal method respectively in three sea areas of China. For Yellow Sea, China should try to solve the dispute with North Korea and South Korea by negotiations, however if the mutual consent cannot be reached, such dispute could also be solved through the legal method. For the East China Sea, China shall do some preparation for the legal method, so that the dispute can be submitted to the court or tribunal when necessary. Assuming to solve the dispute through legal method, the final boundary line may locate between the median line and the Okinawa Trough. For the South China Sea, China also shall do some preparations for the legal method to ensure the long-term strategic relationship between China and Southeast Asia countries. There might be some questions and risks if the legal method is adopted to settle the disputes of maritime delimitation, however, some measures can be taken to mitigate such risks. This Paper compares some legal methods, such as ICJ, arbitration and ITLOS, in Chapter 4 finally. Among such methods, the arbitral proceeding can be more influenced and controlled by the relevant countries which could be used to settle the disputes of maritime delimitation of China in the initial stage.