Legal Basis And Practice Of Underwater Cultural Heritage Protection In The South China Sea

As the main maritime channel of international exchange since ancient times,the South China Sea is a historical region with countless underwater cultural heritage(UCH).Numerous shipwrecks and treasures have caused private salvage activities,resulting in a large number of steal and destruction.Due to oil and gas resources in the region,the strategic position of the South China Sea has gradually been considered,making it become the focus among Southeast Asian States.Moreover,underwater archaeology starting late in the region and the mechanism of UCH protection still lacking make UCH protection face severe challenges.This paper aims to clarify the international legal basis of UCH protection and provide legal feasibility for future cooperation in the South China Sea so that UCH will be better treated and preserved.Firstly,we will define UCH's legitimate definition and analyze its special natures and difference from other cultural heritage.Then we will briefly summarize UCH protection's current status in the South China Sea.Secondly,we will explore international legal basis for UCH protection by studying international conventions such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,the International Rescue Convention and the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage.Also,we will look at two famous international cooperation practices related to Titanic shipwreck case and Syracuse Declaration.Thirdly,we will compare domestic legislation and judicial practices of UCH protection in Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam,Thailand,Malaysia,etc.Specifically,we will study UCH laws in China.By comparing legislation in those countries,we will discover their divergence and convergence on key issues such as commercialization.Research methodologies used in this paper include investigation,literature research,comparative analysis and political economic analysis.During preparation stage,investigation was used to collect materials on the South China Sea,UCH and regional geopolitics.With literature research,we analyzed provisions of international treaties,domestic laws as well as practices and cases to penetrate in historical background so as to establish structure and levels of the paper.We applied comparative analysis to summarize similarities and differences as well as possibility for international cooperation.Political and economic analysis was implemented to explore radical causes of South China Sea countries' attitudes on UCH and role of political and economic factors in UCH protection.Till now,works on UCH focus on interpreting UNCLOS and the UNESCOConvention.Contrarily,this paper tries to analyze specific provisions of international agreements and their limits.Also,unlike those articles prevailing superiority of the UNESCO Convention,this paper lists more effective international cooperation cases to open up brainstorming for regional cooperation.Despite certain works on UCH protection in the South China Sea,most of them seem to be plain and ambiguous.No in-depth and meticulous classification and analysis can be found.This paper however investigates UCH protection laws of different countries in detail,compares them and implements a summary of Chinese cultural relics protection law both at central and local level,to finally provide a complete and purely legal research on UCH protection in the South China Sea.The last part of the paper looks forward to a legal mechanism of UCH protection in the South China Sea.To promote cooperation in the region,we propose improvements on Chinese legislation and junction to the UNESCO Convention.Establishing cooperation agreements,protection areas and UCH protection database are recommended.In general,due to its special location,sensible environment and geopolitical conditions,the South China Sea may not see a quick and full implementation of legal system on UCH protection.Nevertheless,the South China Sea countries should absorb the essence from past practice and work together to create a cooperation platform,so that UCH in the region can be well protected as soon as possible.