Discuss The Limitations Of The Dispute Settlement Mechanism Of UNCLOS In Resolving Disputes Over Islands And Reefs In The South China Sea

As a part of territorial sovereignty,reef territory plays an important role in determining maritime rights such as territorial sea and its exclusive economic zone.The disputes on islands and reefs in the South China Sea also cause disputes among the dispute countries in the maritime rights and interests related to the territorial sea and exclusive economic zone of the South China Sea.In the past,the South China Sea arbitration cases also arose.The limitation of the dispute settlement mechanism of UNCLOS(hereinafter referred to as the Convention)can solve the disputes of islands and reefs in the South China Sea better,and provide theoretical exploration for the clear maritime rights.On the one hand,this paper takes the dispute settlement mechanism of the Convention as the research object,systematically combs the contents,principles and operational characteristics of the dispute settlement mechanism,and analyzes the general limitations of some kind or some types of disputes settled by the Convention in practice;on the other hand,this paper takes the South China sea reef dispute as the research object,and clarifies the dispute in the dispute The nature of the system.Through the analysis of the dispute settlement mechanism,the practical case analysis and the qualitative study of the disputes between the islands and reefs in the South China Sea,it is found that the Convention dispute settlement mechanism has two limitations in solving the disputes of the South China Sea Islands and reefs:procedural limitations and the limitations in the settlement of disputes of different nature.Procedural limitations make the dispute settlement mechanism of the convention not operational when it comes to solving the disputes between islands and reefs in the South China Sea;the limitation of the dispute settlement mechanism in the settlement of the disputes on the islands and reefs in the South China Sea is not feasible in the settlement of territorial disputes,maritime delimitation disputes involving territorial land,historical rights disputes and mixed disputes.It is clear that the disputes between the islands and reefs in the South China Sea must be settled by the political means of both parties,rather than by legal means in accordance with the Convention.Besides the conclusion part,the thesis has four parts.The first chapter is about the content,principle and application characteristics of the dispute settlement mechanism of the Convention.The diversity of settlement methods,the pertinence of the scope of application,the combination of the voluntary and compulsory jurisdiction are clarified.In the principle of application,the voluntary of the state is respected,and the priority principle of the agreement between the parties to the dispute is clarified based on the principle of peaceful settlement of disputes.The second chapter analyzes the nature of the disputes over the islands and reefs in the South China Sea.Based on the time axis of the disputes over the South China Sea Islands and reefs,the paper analyzes why the disputes arise in the South China Sea Based on the geographical and resource orientation of the South China Sea.Through the claims of the parties to different disputes,the existence of different nature disputes is clarified.Finally,the disputes are classified as mixed disputes involving maritime rights,territorial sovereignty and historical rights.The third chapter analyzes the procedural limitation of the Convention dispute settlement mechanism in the settlement of the disputes between islands and reefs in the South China Sea.Based on the premise of the first chapter,the article analyzes the small premise of China's existence of the statement of exclusion of jurisdiction and the existence of two or more parties' agreements.On the basis of the clear statement and agreement in line with the general premise,it is concluded that the dispute settlement mechanism of the Convention shall not be able to deal with the disputes between the islands and reefs in the South China Sea and its related rights The establishment of jurisdiction.Chapter four,based on the reality of the South China Sea Islands and reefs disputes in Chapter ?,makes clear that the two kinds of unreality exist in the settlement of disputes between islands and reefs of different nature,namely,the incompletibility of the means of settlement and the unreality of the purpose of settlement.First,the first section analyzes the islands and reefs with general limitations of the Convention dispute settlement mechanism,and clarifies the common problems of dispute settlement institutions determined by the Convention in solving disputes of different nature;the second section is based on the actual situation of the South China Sea Islands and reefs disputes,and combines the problems in section I to make the dispute settlement mechanism of the Convention impossible to solve the four kinds of disputes The paper analyzes the current situation and clarifies the limitation of dispute settlement mechanism in practice.