Study On The Demarcation Of The Tonkin Gulf In

With the normalization between China and Vietnam in 1990s, the two countries speeded up their negotiations on the issue of Beibu gulf. On Dec.25, 2000, the two countries signed the demarcation treaty on Beibu gulf. Thus, the intractable problem had been solved at last.The demarcation in Beibu gulf, the first maritime demarcation treaty signed by China and its neighbor, set a good example for the Asian countries for solving their maritime disputes. Many scholars, domestic or foreign, have studied this problem before. However, no one gave the detailed introduction from the rise of the problem to its settlement. Although the two countries concluded a demarcation treaty in Beibu gulf, one more maritime dispute still exists in South China Sea. Both of them are maritime disputes. One could be solved peacefully, the other one still in the air. The reason is worth thinking. Though the research on the peaceful settlement of Beibu gulf, the author analyses the comparabilities between the two problems and tries to find ways to solve the disputes in South China Sea.The first part analyses the principles for the delimitation of maritime boundary and the effects of the mid-way island for the demarcation according to the law of the sea. The status of the gulf of Tonkin in the history, including the Ile Bach-long-vi will be introduced in the second part. Then the author analyses the Convention for Delimitation of Frontier between Tongking and Chinao and China's refution against Vietnam's fallacy for the Beibu gulf. In the last part, the author introduces the result of the resolution and the adscription of Ile Bach-long-vi and comments on the effects of the demarcation for the disputes of South China Sea and its promotion for the cooperation of Pan-Beibu gulf area.