ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to clarify ways that international maritime law is being developed and codified in the domestic context, then put into practice on the international stage. It concerns how international legal obligations to maritime law and policy influence Chinese practices. The chapter evaluates how China's legal preferences and deepening maritime policies may influence the development of the law of the sea. The critical appraisal of China's maritime interests and the law of the sea surfaces three sets of issues worthy of further comment. The first concerns the relationship between the international law of the sea, as expressed in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) treaty, and China's incorporation of its obligations under UNCLOS in domestic law, especially with respect to the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). A second set of issues relates to China's maritime disputes. The third set of issues relates to the international implications of the above two.
