Bringing the North Pole to the South China Sea: Dots and Lines on Maps and Their Explanation

The title of the present contribution may seem somewhat farfetched, for the North Pole and the South China Sea do not seem to have much in common at first sight. There certainly lies some truth in this primary observation, as will be discussed in Part 1 below. Nevertheless, as far as the development of the legal regime in both regions is concerned, a notable resemblance is to be discerned if one tries to understand how the largest country in the region, i.e. the Russian Federation in the Arctic and China with respect to the South China Sea, have both tried to tighten their grip on the areas in question. By means of legal enactments of a rather broad nature and of which the exact juridical implications are not immediately clear, or at least open to interpretation, Russia and China have veiled their respective legal claims over the area in a haze of uncertainty. Part 2 will focus on the state practice of both countries in this respect. The final part (Part 3) will subsequently try to draw some conclusions from these similar developments in two areas which at first sight bear a few resemblances.

ISBN:978-1-4094-5594-3

Jaar van publicatie:2014

Trefwoorden:International law of the sea, Arctic, South China Sea