China's Sovereignty in the South China Sea: A Legal Perspective

1. China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea—Understanding The South China Sea issue from the angle of law Yunxia Song Dalian Naval Academy People’s Republic of China

2. POINTS • China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters. • The disputes over the South China Sea should be solved through peaceful means. • China’s stance on the resources in this area is that “China is willing to shelve the disputes and go in for joint development”. • In compliance with international law and does not conflict with the contemporary maritime law.

3. 1. China has abundant jurisprudential evidence for its sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea.

4. Discovery and Pre-emption • According to the international law, discovery and pre-emption means that a country can acquire the sovereignty over an unowned land through its first pre-emption. • In contemporary international law, the effectiveness of pre-emption, as a mode of acquisition of territory, is also adequately considered in the practice of solving territorial disputes between countries.

5. Totally conforms to every essential element • --The first to discover and name the islands in the South China Sea including the Nansha Islands. • --The first to develop the islands and carry out productive activities there. • --The first to exercise continuous sovereignty over the islands. • --which has long been recognized by the international community .

6. Jurisprudential evidence • Such as Records of Rarities by Yang Fu of the Eastern Han Dynasty (the 2nd Century AD)

7. Jurisprudential evidence • Such as Records of Rarities by Yang Fu of the Eastern Han Dynasty (the 2nd Century AD) . • Records of Rarities in Southern Boundary by Wan Zhen of the Three Kingdoms Period (the 3rd Century AD) .

8. Jurisprudential evidence • Such as Records of Rarities by Yang Fu of the Eastern Han Dynasty (the 2nd Century AD) . • Records of Rarities in Southern Boundary by Wan Zhen of the Three Kingdoms Period (the 3rd Century AD) . • Printed by the Hydrography Department of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom in 1912. • Le Monde Colonial issued in 1933 .

9. Jurisprudential evidence • The Chinese people have been fishing, planting and conducting other productive activities on the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters.

10. Jurisprudential evidence • Since Emperor Zhenyuan of the Tang Dynasty (the 8th Century AD), China has included the Nansha Islands into its administrative map, which was amply recorded in the official documents, the local history books. • After the World War II ended, the Chinese Government recovered the Nansha Islands once invaded and occupied by Japan.

11. The Nansha Islands are not land without owners, but rather they are an inalienable part of Chinese territory. The Chinese Government has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters.

12. 2. Basic Stance and Policy of the Chinese Government in Solving the South China Sea Issue.

13. Basic Stance and Policy • The Chinese Government has always stood for negotiated settlement of international disputes through peaceful means. • China attaches great importance to the safety and unimpededness of the international water lanes on the South China Sea. • The disputes over the South China Sea should be solved by the directly concerned countries through negotiations.

14. 3. China’s stance and policy on the South China Sea issue do not conflict with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

15. The territorial sovereignty issue is not subjected to the adjustment of the Convention. • China had acquired its sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea long before the 1982 Convention came into effect. • The Convention insists on the principle of “la terre domine la mer”.

16. Thank you !