25 August 2010 | South China Sea Seminar Series (This event was by invitation only)
The Legal Regime of the Spratlys: Positions of the Parties Concerned and Relevance to the Dispute
Introduction
This seminar examined the provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which are part of the legal regime governing the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
Under 1982 UNCLOS, a mid-ocean island is entitled to a 12 nautical mile territorial sea of up to 452 square nautical miles as well as a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone of up to 125,600 square nautical miles. Therefore, UNCLOS is often blamed as providing the motivation for the States concerned to strongly assert sovereignty claims over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
On the other hand, Article 121(3) provides that “rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own” are only entitled to a 12 nautical mile territorial sea. Further, geographic features which are not naturally formed or which are not above water at high tide are not entitled any maritime zones of their own.
How many of the islands in the Spratlys can actually generate full maritime zones? What is the practice and the positions of the parties on the legal regime of islands in the Spratlys?
This seminar examined the practice and positions of the claimant States on the issue and the relevance of the legal regime to the current dispute. The author also made recommendations on feasible solutions to the dispute in the Spratlys.
About the Speaker
Dr Nguyen Thi Lan Anh is the Vice Dean of the International Law Faculty, where she has taught since 2000. At the Diplomatic Academy of Viet Nam she teaches courses in Public International Law, International Law of the Sea, WTO Law and International Dispute Settlement. She is also a member of the research programme of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam on the South China Sea.
Lan Anh received a Bachelor of Arts in Law degree from Hanoi Law University in 1998, a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from the Diplomatic Academy of Viet Nam in 1999, and a Master of Arts in International, European and Commercial Law degree from the University of Sheffield in 2004. She obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree in International Law from the University of Bristol in 2008. The title of her PhD thesis was “The South China Sea Dispute: A Reappraisal in the Light of International Law”.
Lan Anh has been a CIL Visiting Fellow for the past two months. CIL sponsored her to attend the Rhodes Academy of the Oceans Law & Policy in June-July 2010.
