Comments On The Case Of Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh

On May23th,2008, the Pulau Batu Puteh was awarded to Singapore with thevote of12:4by the International Court of Justice. Such a case is typical and seldomhappens as one possesses the sovereignty originally, but it is transferred to anotherfinally. Although the Court do not show exactly what rules or principles it follows, theEffective Control Principle and the Principle of Estoppels are thought to be appliedacademically. With the judgment of the International Court and the previous researchat home and abroad, this thesis mainly includes4parts: Chapter1introduces theresearch background and significance as well as the previous research of this thesis.Chapter2introduces the basic truth of the case and illustrates the demand of bothsides, besides the ground of court decision. Chapter3focuses on two controversiesfrom the perspective of two contending parties: the court and the writer. One is howthey acclaimed their sovereignty after1953; the other is how the two principles areapplied and what are unreasonable. Chapter4provides the suggestions for the SouthChina Sea controversy from this case, including how the evidence is collected and theapplication of “actual law” principle, the transparency of sovereignty acclaim andthe application of the Effective Control Principle and the Estoppels. The territorialdisputes with neighboring countries sprang up in China these years, such as the SouthChina Sea dispute and Diaoyu Island issue. Therefore, to maintain sovereignty andterritorial integrity becomes a common concern of all circles of society. Since Chinesegovernment is not to rely on the International Court to solve such issue, and fullpreparations are necessary to be made in the case that some other countries may takeadvantages of legal loopholes and occupy the controversial territory illegally. Theresearch of the Pulau Batu Puteh issue will further show the judicial philosophy of theInternational Court of Justice in dealing with these cases, as a result, it will lead abetter way to solve the territorial disputes by the laws.