Ways To Peacefully Solve Maritime Delimitation Dispute Over East China Sea Between China And Japan

The maritime delimitation dispute between China and Japan over the East China Sea(hereafter "the dispute")has been shelved for several years since 2010,and the two countries returned to the negotiating table to renegotiate the dispute in 2016.In light of the negative impacts brought by the South China Sea Arbitration case,there are two divided views on whether the dispute should be solved by negotiations or not.One view is that the Sino-Japanese dispute over the East China Sea has become a key factor affecting bilateral relations.Thus the dispute should be solved quickly and China should take the initiative to submit the dispute to international courts or arbitration tribunals.The other view is that China should continue negotiating,because legal methods cannot fully safeguard the interests of China.In such a context,I hope to answer the question by analyzing the legal issues of the dispute.The introduction of the origin and development of the dispute will be given in the first chapter,focusing on respective claims of China and Japan.The dispute settlement mechanism of UNCLOS and the role of CLCS in the dispute will also be addressed.The second chapter will analyze important cases concerning continental shelf delimitation from three aspects,n:amely the principle of natural prolongation,equitable principle and equidistance rule,and propose that legal methods are not the best way to protect China's national interests.China and Japan are unlikely to submit the dispute to an international court or tribunal,so it is not recommendable to solve the dispute through legal methods.In the third chapter,I will present the reasons for the success and failure of maritime delimitation negotiations,and then analyze the possibility of resolving the dispute through negotiations on the basis of the specific circumstances of East China Sea.Based on the preceding chapters,the fourth chapter will make specific suggestions on the settlement of the dispute.Finally,the conclusion will be made that at present,China should continue negotiating with Japan.Some specific legal problems in the negotiations can be solved by legal methods,and then China should keep negotiation to resolve the dispute gradually.