Sovereignty over the East Sea viewed from the provisions of international law

(Baonghean) -These days, China's placement of the Haiyang Shiyou-981 drilling rig deep into Vietnam's continental shelf is attracting the attention of the international community. Public opinion around the world believes that China's actions are not limited to a simple dispute between countries, but that China's actions violate international law, specifically the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which China is a signatory. Not only that, China also loudly makes excuses for its placement of the Haiyang Shiyou-981 drilling rig into Vietnam's continental shelf, saying that it is a sea area under China's sovereignty, while they have not provided any basis to confirm that...

1. The 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea and the issue of the unreasonable nine-dash line in the East Sea

In 1982, the 3rd United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea adopted the Convention on the Law of the Sea with 320 articles and 9 annexes. The 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea is considered the world's constitution on sea and ocean issues because it comprehensively defines the legal status of maritime zones under the sovereignty and sovereign rights of coastal states as well as the legal status of international waters and international seabed. In the East Sea, this convention is violated by China with the so-called nine-dash line that this country drew without any legal basis.

According to the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea, a coastal state has internal waters, territorial waters, exclusive economic zones and continental shelves. The continental shelf is the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas outside the territorial waters of the coastal state, with the exclusive economic zone being a 200 nautical mile water area from the baseline used to measure the breadth of the territorial waters.

The 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that within its defined territorial waters, coastal states have sovereign rights and jurisdiction, especially the right to explore and exploit natural resources in these waters.

According to international law, when participating in the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea, coastal states must accept the obligations of the Convention in a comprehensive manner. Member states enjoy sovereign rights over their continental shelves. At the same time, they have the obligation to respect the sovereign rights of other member states over their continental shelves.

In the East Sea, China has put forth the so-called nine-dash line and claimed sovereignty over about 80% of the East Sea area without any legal basis. In particular, this nine-dash line lies deep within the 200 nautical mile continental shelf of the East Sea coastal countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei according to the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

In 2012, Scarborough Shoal, a reef located about 124 nautical miles off the coast of the Philippines and completely within the country’s 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone, became the target of a tense and prolonged dispute between China and the Philippines. Scarborough Shoal lies within the waters drawn by the nine-dash line.

Also in 2012, China National Offshore Oil Corporation announced an international bidding for nine oil and gas blocks covering an area of ​​160,129 square kilometers, within the waters of the nine-dash line but deep within Vietnam's continental shelf.

On May 1, China brought the Haiyang Shiyou 981 drilling rig into Vietnam's continental shelf at coordinates 15 degrees 29'58'' north latitude, 111 degrees 12'06'' east longitude, 119 nautical miles from the coast of Vietnam, 80 nautical miles deep into Vietnam's continental shelf, within the nine-dash line drawn by China.

2. China's sovereignty claims are completely contrary to international law.

China's deployment of an oil rig deep into Vietnam's continental shelf has met with strong opposition from international public opinion because this is not only a regional issue but has become a global issue because China's actions have violated the provisions of international law.

Information verified by images. After that, information about China's illegal actions was simultaneously published by the world media. The press of the US, Germany, Japan, India... had many articles about China's violation of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, violating the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea DOC.

International experts and scholars also believe that no regulation allows China to define its sovereignty like the nine-dash line. Professor Cach Thayer - an expert on security in Southeast Asia and China said that China's actions are illegal: "China's bringing the drilling rig to the East Sea is a violation of Vietnam's exclusive economic zone sovereignty. Vietnam has sovereign authority over the resources in that area and China's oil rig is not allowed to be brought here to exploit without Vietnam's permission. This violates international law."

Sharing this view, General Daniel Séphơ - former Military Attaché of the French Embassy in China, Vietnam and Thailand, now a China expert at the French Center for Asian Studies 21, said: Going back to the past, the "cow tongue" line was proposed by China in 1947, but at that time, it was just a line drawn without any official claim or demand from China. It was not until May 9, 2009 that China made its first claim of sovereignty by submitting a report to the Secretary-General of the United Nations to protest the joint submission of Vietnam and Malaysia to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf on the division of the extended continental shelf area related to the two countries. At that time, China considered this incident "worrisome" for their rights. Only then did China officially make a claim of sovereignty and claim that the East Sea area within the "cow tongue line" belongs to China. Thus, China's claim of sovereignty came after the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. Therefore, any action to assert sovereignty over the "cow tongue line" by China is illegal and unreasonable.

Mr. Grigory Pauling, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies of the United States, the world's number 1 research organization on security and international issues, said:

“The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea clearly stipulates that in the event of a dispute, the parties shall refrain from taking provocative and unilateral actions. In 2002, China also signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) with ASEAN, in which the parties pledged to refrain from taking provocative and unilateral actions. Therefore, China's actions have violated both the spirit and the content of the above two agreements.”

3. International law must be strictly respected.

The incident of China's HD-981 drilling rig violating Vietnam's sovereign waters once again shows that the provisions of international law, specifically the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, are not respected by China.

While most countries in the world strictly comply with the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, China goes against it. As a member of the United Nations and a country that has signed and ratified the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, China is obliged to respect that Convention.

If the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea are applied correctly, in the East Sea, from the central and southern areas of the East Sea, the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zones of the countries hardly overlap, even between the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam and the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines are still separated by a narrow international sea area in the middle of the East Sea. Therefore, China's claim of sovereignty based on the nine-dash line covering almost the entire East Sea is extremely unreasonable and no country in the region can accept this claim. There has never been a precedent for such a claim of sovereignty in the world.

By bringing the Haiyang Shiyou 981 drilling rig into Vietnam's sovereign waters, China has not only violated Vietnam's territorial waters recognized by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, but the aggressive and proactive act of ramming Vietnamese law enforcement vessels by Chinese ships is also a violation of the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. In addition, countries have the obligation to ensure maritime safety at sea, and Chinese ships actively ramming other countries' ships when these ships are not warships shows that China has not respected its obligations within the framework of the International Maritime Organization, of which this country is also a member. In other words, China has violated maritime safety regulations on avoiding collisions at sea. Not only that, China's actions this time also go against the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea signed between China and ASEAN in 2002, abbreviated as DOC. In that Statement, ASEAN and China pledged not to further complicate the situation in the East Sea and not to use force.

International law is the legal basis for resolving international disputes. The same goes for the law of the sea, which is the basis for delimiting world territorial waters and resolving disputes at sea. Unilateral actions by any country that violate international regulations and practices will affect peace, security and maritime safety in the seas. More seriously, this is also a bad precedent for the majesty and binding nature of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which signatory countries are obliged to comply with. The current issue in the East Sea is no longer a bilateral issue between Vietnam and China, but it has become a regional issue, even affecting the whole world because international law is being violated. Countries and socio-political organizations around the world need to clearly express their opposition to China's actions of disrespecting international law, and speak out to demand that China strictly comply with the regulations clearly stated in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Cao Bien