The International Law Basis For The Sovereignty Disputes Over Spratly Islands Between China And Vietnam

South China Sea has the self-evident and weighty importance in military strategic position and contains rich oil and gas resources which can bring tremendous economic interests. From the beginning of the 1960s, Vietnam has been making requests on the territorial sovereignty and maritime rights in the South China Sea. Especially in recent years, Vietnam intended to internationalize the issues of the South China Sea. The South China Sea problems gets more and more attention from the international community. Vietnam is the only one country except China who claims all parts of the Spratly Islands, and actually occupies 29 islands and reefs of the Spratly Islands. Vietnam has been the biggest challenger for China and it has the most vested interests in the South China Sea disputes.This article mainly uses the method of comparative study and the method of historical research to analyse the basis of international law in solving the Spratly Islands sovereignty dispute.This article can be divided into four parts:The first part describes the current situation in the sovereignty dispute over the Spratly Islands and its causes, points out the situation and claim against the Vietnamese occupation of the Spratly Islands,analyses that China has taken a series of maintenance behavior and claims that the Spratly Islands are China’s inherent territory,elaborates the dipute of the Spratly Islands between China and Vietnam;The second part demonstrates the application of the treaty in the Spratly Islands sovereignty dispute resolution, it analyzes the content and the effect of the " Treaty of Peace with Japan ", the "Cairo Declaration" and the "Potsdam Proclamation",the conclusion is that the "Treaty of Peace with Japan" shall not apply to the settlement of the sovereignty dispute over the Spratly Islands, and the "Cairo Declaration" and the "Potsdam Proclamation" can provide a basis for solving the Spratly Islands disputes.In addition,it also analyses the application of the "United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea"and the "Declaration on the Code of Conduct on the South China Sea"in solving the Spratly Islands dispute,the conclusion is that the"United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea"is not suitable to solve the Spratly Islands dispute,and the"Declaration on the Code of Conduct on the South China Sea" has some space to apply to solve the Spratly Islands dispute; The third part elaborates the application of the pre-empt principle in solving the Spratly Islands dispute, by analyzing the meaning of preemption and the evidences that China and Vietnam claim the sovereignty of the Spratly Islands according to the pre-empt principle, obtained that China is in full compliance with the pre-empt principle for the Spratly Islands, while Vietnam has not enough evidences to claim the sovereignty of the Spratly Islands by the pre-empt principle; The fouth parts involves other principles that apply in the sovereignty dispute over the Spratly Islands, including estoppels and the inherit principle, proposes that Vietnam violates the estoppel principle when it claims the sovereignty over the Spratly Islands, according to the inherit principle, that Vietnam claims the sovereignty over the Spratly Islands territory is not consistent with international law. By demonstrating the basis of the international law of the dispute of the Spratly Islands between China and Vietnam, it proves that China has territorial sovereignty over the Spratly Islands,and China is the only legitimate owner of the Spratly Islands.