A Comparative Study on the South China Sea Dispute and Sino-Vietnam Beibu Gulf Maritime Delimitation Under the View of Historical Sovereignty
Abstract: The modern law of the sea system represented by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea established the principle of freedom of the seas. The seas (territorial seas excluded) were originally not the objects of state sovereignty, and that the “historical sovereignty” being recognized by the modern law of the sea is fundamentally based on the universal international recognition. In the South China Sea, the coexitence of the disputes of the sovereignty of islands and the sea boder delimitation makes it very complicated. Through the analysis of the concept of “historical sovereignty”, we may find an available access to the South China Sea predicament.
Key word: historic sovereignty; historic water; South China Sea problem