The Territorial Sea Baseline Of Outlying Archipelagos Of Continental Countries

In the 20th century,with the rapid development of international law of the sea,the international community carried out researches and discussions on numerous maritime issues,and lots of legal principles and legal systems were formed.Among them,the question of archipelagos has always been the focus of attention.Under the efforts of all parties,relevant legal issues of the archipelagos of archipelagic states and coastal archipelagos have been properly resolved in the second half of the 20th century.However,the legal system of Outlying Archipelagos has not been formally established.Outlying Archipelagos share similar geographical characteristics with the archipelagos of archipelagic states and coastal archipelagos,and also have common interests in terms of economy and security,if these problems left over by history can not be effectively solved,it may cause a series of maritime disputes.China's Spratly Islands is a kind of Outlying Archipelagos,the territorial sea baseline has not been determined,so the continental legal system of Outlying Archipelagos---the blank area of the international law concerns the core interests of our country.The author attempts to summarize the legal system of Outlying Archipelagos in a relatively comprehensive way,classify the practices of continental countries according to the different way of determining the baselines of the territorial sea,and summarize the legal basis of these countries to use straight baselines,and the conclude the premise and conditions of the use of straight baseline,in order to provide reference for delimiting the baselines of the territorial sea of the Nansha islands and provide new way to solve the problems of the south China sea.The first part of this paper interprets the concept of Outlying Archipelagos in mainland China,and analyzes the approximate concept of islands,archipelagos and archipelagic countries.It is clear that the archipelagos can be divided into three different categories.And the author summarizes the ideas about this issue of research institutions,international law scholars and three UN Conferences on the law of the sea.In 1982,the UNCLOS ultimately avoided this problem,in the final analysis results from the nature of the "package deal".It doesn't mean to build a legal system of Outlying Archipelagos is lack of legal basis and the necessity of reality.The convention's lack of clear stipulation does not stop the legal practices of continental countries with Outlying Archipelagos,Denmark,Ecuador,Spain,Portugal,Norway and other countries have did try in the related legal system.In the second part,the author has carried on the classification in accordance with the different designated ways of the baselines of the territorial sea of these countries.Which can be found is that,most continental countries chose the baseline.The third chapter discusses the legal basis for the application of straight baselines in the above-mentioned continental countries.No matter look from the negotiation course of the convention,or from the perspective of the interpretation of treaties,the article 7 and article 47 of Convention do not constitute the legal basis of the apply of straight baselines.The unified and consistent practices of the continental countries,and the belief that this practice conforms to the legal faith prescribed by international law,and the acquiescence of the international community,jointly promote the formation of international customary rules.In the context of international customary law,the straight baselines of the outlying archipelagos are different from the linear baselines of the coastal archipelagos and archipelagic states,but belong to a unique linear baseline.However,the application of linear baselines of outlying archipelagos must also be subject to certain preconditions and restrictions.The fourth chapter focuses on this problem.Finally,the fifth part of this paper applies the above discussion to the baselines of the territorial sea of Nansha Archipelagos.Nansha qundao conforms to the precondition of "integrity",and our country has made clear its application of line baselines.When draw the specific straight baseline,our country should be in accordance with the constraints of outlying archipelagos for straight baselines,comprehensively consider the provisions of the Convention as well as the geographic,historical,economic and other various aspects of factors,and flexibly use different ways.For the waters within the straight baseline,China can refer to the Archipelago system to construct a scientific and reasonable navigation system.