On The Effect Of Island In Marine Delimitation

This thesis discusses the effects of islands on maritime delimitation mainly from the perspective of international treaties and practice.The thesis is divided into four parts. The first part analyzes the legal definition of an island. First, it discusses the history of the concept of islands, analyzes the definition of an island in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and points out its defects. Second, it analyzes some representative academic views on the definition of an island. An island, without considering any other factors in maritime delimitation, has the territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf as the mainland does. However, a rock shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf, and can only have the territorial sea and contiguous zone.The second part analyzes the effects of islands on maritime delimitation. In order to achieve equitable results, not only general rules of relevant international law of the sea concerning maritime delimitation should be considered, but specific circumstances such as relevant factors of islands should also be comprehensively taken into account. There are usually three ways to deal with the effects of islands on maritime delimitation cases:“full effect”,“partial effect”,“zero effect”. Then this part respectively analyzes all kinds of factors on the effects of islands on maritime delimitation from the perspectives of law, technics and national politics or diplomacy.The third part discusses the practice of the rules of effects of islands in specific international maritime delimitations and analyzes various circumstances of effects of islands. For instance, the equitable result‐oriented approach was adopted in the1969North Sea Continental Shelf Case while in1977the Anglo‐French Continental Shelf Arbitration combined the equitable principle with the equidistance or medium line method to pursue a fair delimitation result. In the maritime delimitation between adjacent or opposite countries, the effects of an island generally depend on the conditions and location of the island itself.The fourth part analyzes relevant circumstances that China faces by using the rules of effects of islands on international maritime delimitation. It opines that the maritime delimitation issue in the South China Sea should be dealt with only after the settlement of disputes over the ownership of the islands. In addition, it also analyzes in detail the reasons for the Okinotorishima rocks not to have the200‐nautical mile exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.The thesis concludes that the different effects of islands and rocks on international maritime delimitation are determined by the factors such as the size, height, location, human inhabitation and economic conditions of the islands and rocks.