Sino-US Dispute Over Maritime Rules:Rules Based On The Generalized Perspective

While the long-standing Sino-US Maritime combat dates back to the establishment of PRC,the struggle for “maritime rules” has risen to the height of focus in recent years.The struggle between the two countries in the field of maritime rules mainly focuses on three themes: differences in the interpretation of existing international maritime law;competition for superiority in the formulation of regional maritime rules;and a game playing in the establishment of bilateral maritime rules.China and the United States have three differences in identity: rising power and hegemony;continental country and sea power;developing coast state and maritime hegemony.These three kinds of identity differences are also three different perspectives of the studying and understanding of the maritime dispute between China and the United States.This article aims to study the content,form and meaning of the dispute over sea rules.In order to fully highlight the fundamental causes,motives and contents of the dispute,rather than be trapped in the text,treaties and international law signed between countries,this article takes the meaning of the word “rules” in the broad sense.On this basis,the article study the issues,forms,characteristics of the Sino-US struggle for maritime rules in the three areas with the research methods of historical analysis and comparative analysis.On conclusion,the core Sino-US dispute over maritime rules is the contradiction between the developing coast state's struggle for sovereign rights and the maritime hegemony's struggle for control power.The transfer of power between China and the United States only changed the ability of China to safeguard it's sovereignty,security and legitimate sea rights rather than the primary goal of China's maritime strategy.China's achievements in maritime rules are concussions to the maritime order,while the impact means more “supplement” and“correction” rather than more “replacement”.