By Nguyen Nha, Ph.D. (translated by Le Duc)

By Gerald Segal

Below is an excerpt of the full article published in International Security, Vol. 20, no. 4 (Spring 1996) 

The South China Sea Case

China has never hidden its claim to complete sovereignty in the South China Sea. Ever since China emerged from the distractions of the Cultural Revolution, it has sought carefully to extend its control of these disputed waters.(18) China has insisted on its unshakable legal claim to the region, although it has frustratingly never explained the legal basis of its policy nor defined the precise limits of its claim. China signed but has not yet ratified the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Beijing has given no indication that it would accept international arbitration of its claim to sovereignty over every bit of territory in the region. China has been reluctant to take the issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in part because, like all the other claimants (Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei), its claim to sovereignty is weak.(19) China has applied the continental shelf principle in defining its maritime claims in the Yellow and East China Sea, but claims the South China Sea on the basis of "historic use and administration."(20) However, China has clearly not had continuous and effective control, administration, and governance of the territory, as the latter principle calls for. And even if some sovereignty claims would be upheld by the court, the tiny outcrops in the sea do not appear to be legally qualified to justify exclusive economic zones of 200 nautical miles or even more extensive continental shelves. Only 26 features in the Spratly group are above water at high tide and the largest has a land area of less than half a square kilometer. None has ever sustained a permanent population. Continental shelf claims from states surrounding the Spratlys are likely to be seen as much stronger by the ICJ.

an Analysis of the Workshops on Managing Potential Conflicts in the South China Sea

By Nguyen Hong Thao

Faculty of Law

University of Hanoi

Hanoi, Vietnam

In November 2002 the ASEAN states and the People’s Republic of China agreed upon a Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. This note, a follow-up to the author’s article, “Vietnam and the Code of Conduct for the South China Sea” (Ocean Development & International Law, Vol. 32, pp. 105–130 (2000)), briefly describes the contents and importance of the 2002 Declaration.

15TH CENTURY

From 1405 to 1433: the Great eunuch Zheng He (Ming dynasty) carried out 7 voyages in the Indian Ocean without occupying any islands or shoals of the Paracels or the Spratly archipelagoes.

16TH CENTURY

- 1527: Spain installs a colonial regime in the Philippines.

- 1595: The Netherlands approaches the islands of the Sonde (Indonesia).