Study On Straight Baselines In Maritime Boundary Delimitation Of Continental Countries

Baseline, the boundaries of a country’s territorial waters between its coasts and internal waters and the starting point of the 12-mile territorial sea, plays an important role in a country’s maritime boundary delimitation. Among the three types of baseline stipulated, controversy exists on the flexible application and quantitative limitation within the practical application of the straight baseline, which is adopted by many countries including China. From the perspective of treaty interpretation and customary international law, this thesis illustrates that "In localities where the coastline is deeply indented and cut into, or if there is a fringe of islands along the coast in its immediate vicinity, straight baseline could be applied flexibly" should form international customary law, and thus to provide reference for China to apply the straight baseline flexibly.The thesis consists of three parts:introduction, main content and conclusion; the main body is covered as four chapters.The first chapter ---- the overview of straight baselines and its evolution process---introduces the development of baselines since the 17th century, as well as the emergence and evolution of straight baselines. This chapter firstly introduces the development of baseline before the Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries case, including using actual coastline as the baseline and using the low tide line as the baseline, as well as the compilation process of baseline-related international law in the early 20th century; Secondly, it introduces the Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries Case in 1951 in detail, illustrating the background of the case, the arguments of parties involved, the outcome of the trial and its critical influence on straight baselines; thirdly, it talks about the legislative practice of international law on straight baseline after Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries Case, including the discussion on straight baselines application among ILC, the first and the third conference of the law of the sea, and the regulation on straight baseline application adopted as Article 4 of the 1958 UN Convention and Article 7 of UNCLOS, thus to clarify the concept, function, and application requirements of straight baseline in a comprehensive manner.The second chapter——demonstrate reasonable flexibility in the application of straight baselines from the perspective of treaty interpretation——explain Article 7 of UNCLOS, combined with the American government and relevant scholars’ points of view, and to comment on the flexible application of straight baseline and the quantitative limits of straight baseline. The chapter firstly interprets Article 7 of UNCLOS in accordance with the principles and methods of treaty interpretation, as known as interpretation about text, interpretation about purpose of the text, and interpretation about context of treaties. Secondly it compares the view point of quantitative limits with content of Article 7 of UNCLOS, and comment from the aspects of the subject, content, purpose and so on. Then it demonstrates flexible application of straight baseline should be consistent with article 7 of UNCLOS.The third chapter——demonstrate reasonable flexibility in the application of straight baselines from the perspective of customary international law——The chapter analyses the main path which flexible application of straight baseline should form international customary. Firstly it demonstrates flexibility in the use of straight baselines may form customary international law, mainly from sources of international law, international customary make a decisive role in the delimitation of maritime boundary. From the level of international customary form, discussing the flexible application of straight baseline meets the constituent elements of State practice and legal convince. Secondly, from the level of state practice, it focuses on flexible application of straight baselines of states, including the overall situation, the necessity of flexible application, also through the practice of Iceland demonstrates the flexible application of" the coastline is deeply indented and cut into ", through the practice of France demonstrates the flexible application of" there is a fringe of islands along the coast in its immediate vicinity ", through the practice of Chile demonstrates "should not deviate from the general direction of the coast", so as to arrive flexible application of straight baselines already formed international customary, which is extensive used in maritime boundary delimitation of the countries. Thirdly, it demonstrates that flexible application of straight baseline also meet the elements of legal convince.The forth chapter——flexible application of straight baselines practice in china——combined with China’s actual conditions, The chapter discusses the practice of flexible application of straight baselines in China, and makes recommendations for improvement. Firstly it introduces China’s legislation on maritime boundary delimitation, and the 1996 Declaration provides the system of straight baselines. Secondly it introduces the maritime boundary delimitation of the continental part of China and the locations of straight baseline. Thirdly it analyses flexible application of straight baseline in the mainland of China and its neighboring countries, South Korea, Japan and so on. Fourthly it analyses the reasonableness and necessity to keep in accordance with the international customary, which is flexible application of straight baseline. Fifthly it makes recommendations for improving flexible application of China’s straight baseline, including strengthening research, improving the relevant legislation, maintaining the territorial sea rights and interests, and deepening exchanges and cooperation with other countries.Conclusion is emphasizing that "In localities where the coastline is deeply indented and cut into, or if there is a fringe of islands along the coast in its immediate vicinity, straight baseline could be applied flexibly" should form international customary law. And to believe that if this conclusion is drawn, will it be effective to make the straight baseline play an important role in safeguarding the coastal marine rights and interests, also in resolving international disputes on maritime boundary delimitation.