The Historical Rights Of China In The South China Sea

The international community pays more and more attention to sea rights.As the question of the historic right to settle the territorial dispute,sea rights have become a hot spot in international theory and judicial practice.At present,historic rights are in a very awkward position.On the one hand,many treaties and conventions,including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,have not given a clear connotation and system to historic rights.On the other hand,many scholars in the international community have demonstrated the legal status of historic rights.Through the creation and application of historic rights,the national and international courts and arbitral tribunals fully affirm that historic rights have different functions from other legal systems.The historic right covers a broader range of historic ownership,traditional fishing rights and historic navigation rights.The coastal States have sovereign rights over islands other than continental territory and a State has complete exclusive sovereignty over it.And the traditional fishing rights and historic navigational rights in waters are inherent in historic rights.Such rights developed before that by other States should not be ignored.From the articles of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to the interpretation methods of the law of treaties,the theoretical requirements of intertemporal law,the clarity of the legal status of historic rights,and finally to many cases in international judicial practice,all prove the existence and reasonableness of historic rights.China's jurisdiction over the South China Sea can be traced back to 2000 years ago.Rulers of successive dynasties created or inherted the systems and measures of earlier ruler and deepened their sovereign over the South China Sea.In addition,the neighboring countries of the South China Sea acquiesced China' s acts of jurisdiction in the South China Sea.These are all in line with the elements of the historic right theory.Combined with the current practice of disputes between China and the neighboring countries in the South Chin Sea,it proves again that China has historic rights over the South China Sea.At present,the South China Sea dispute has become a roadblock for some countries with ulterior motives to check and balance China' s development.In order to solve this problem,China must give full play to the role of historic rights and regard it as a powerful legal weapon for resolving disputes in the South China Sea.Therefore,from the perspective of historic rights,we should first realize the institutionalization of historic rights.Secondly,we should apply the other principles of traditional territorial acquisition methods in parallel with historical rights so as to eliminate the interference of realistic factors that affect historic rights.Finally,we protect China' s sea rights in the South China Sea through establishing a perfect law of the sea system.