Research On The Legal Issues Of The Arctic Passage

The adverse weather conditions of Arctic Passage make it prohibitive to open up theArctic waterway,so the Arctic route in the past is often regarded as restricted area.However,with the climate warming and disappears of the ice, the opening of Arcticwaterway becomes possible.Especially in2009there exist an achievement that is thefirst commercial navigation in the Arctic Passage.It is a new stage of development ofArctic Passage. It gets an important strategic position and the high value of prominenceshipping.The circumpolar countries around the Arctic Passage caused a series of legal disputesabout the rights in this area. Russia and Canada claims its official attitude in thelight of the “Baseline” and “Historic Rights” and the jurisdiction to Arctic waters andsome important Straits. They also deny the right of Transit Passage of foreign vessels.However, other stakeholders countries, particularly the United States, opposed to theirviewpoint,which makes dispute of this area more complex. But, at the same time, wecannot deny that it is inevitable that the trend of emergence of future use of the Arcticcountries more vessels and large-scale commercial operations. The Arctic Passage willbecome increasingly international. We can expect the future that,no matter whichcountry, if the lack of research on the Arctic Passage issues, will inevitably be excludedfrom the decision of Arctic affairs and in a position of quite passive. Therefore, thestudy of the legal issues of Arctic Passage is particularly necessary.In this background, this thesis focused on the legal issues of the Arctic Passage andanalyze the legal issues and arguments of Arctic Passage from the part of Arcticwaterways and the part of Arctic Strait, which is the innovation points of this paper. Thisthesis focuses on the legal basis for Russia and Canada’s attitude to the relevant watersof the Straits and the related property rights on the access of international straits inArctic Passage. Meanwhile, according to the future action of the circumpolar countriesand the international situation in the Arctic area,this thesis will clarify China’s futureposition in dealing with legal issues in the Arctic Passage and advise that China shouldparticipate in the future research on the commercial waterway rules in the Arctic regionand seek the process to maximize China’s interest.