ABSTRACT

Many of the maritime disputes today represent a competing interest of two groups: coastal states and user states. This edited volume evaluates the role of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in managing maritime order in East Asia after its ratification in 1994, while reflecting upon various interpretations of UNCLOS. Providing an overview of the key maritime disputes occurring in the Asia Pacific, it examines case studies from a selection of representative countries to consider how these conflicts of interest reflect their respective national interests, and the wider issues that these interpretations have created in relation to navigation regimes, maritime entitlement, boundary delimitation and dispute settlement.

chapter |6 pages

Introduction

part I|43 pages

Regional maritime order overview

chapter 1|23 pages

China–ASEAN relations in the South China Sea

Persistent features and obstacles to cooperation

chapter 2|18 pages

The East China Sea

Sea of regional and global confrontation

part II|92 pages

National perspective

chapter 3|16 pages

Historic concepts vs. contemporary maritime regimes in UNCLOS

China’s claims in the South China Sea

chapter 4|31 pages

Navigational rights, freedoms, and interests in the South China Sea

The Philippines’ perspective

chapter 5|12 pages

Indonesia

An archipelagic state’s perspectives on the law of the sea

chapter 6|19 pages

Balancing the rights of coastal states and user states in the post-UNCLOS age

Vietnam and navigational rights

chapter 7|12 pages

The United States and accession to UNCLOS

A case of how domestic political polarization results in free ridership

part III|48 pages

Navigation related issues and UNCLOS

chapter 10|20 pages

Maritime confidence-building measures

Assessing China–US MOU on notification of major military activities and rules of behavior

part IV|80 pages

Maritime entitlement, delimitation and dispute settlement and UNCLOS

chapter 11|23 pages

The Sino-Philippine arbitration on the South China Sea disputes

A preliminary assessment of the merits award

chapter 13|17 pages

Low-tide elevations

A contemporary analysis