Manila has violated law of the sea

On May 6, the Philippine National Police intercepted a Chinese fishing boat off Half Moon Shoal in the Nansha Islands and detained 11 Chinese fishermen, who were then shifted to the southwestern province of Palawan. The Philippines' alleges that the Chinese fishermen violated wildlife protection laws by poaching endangered marine turtles in its "exclusive economic zone". Nine of the 11 Chinese fishermen have been charged with poaching.

Manila's action against the Chinese fishermen is absurd and violates international laws. China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters, including the Half Moon Shoal. China was the first to discover and name the islands, and the first to exercise sovereign jurisdiction over them, and it has ample historical and jurisprudential evidence to support this.

China exercised jurisdiction over the Nansha Islands without any disputes until World War II, during which Japan invaded and occupied them. In accordance with the "Cairo Declaration" and "Potsdam Proclamation", China resumed its sovereignty over the Nansha Islands in 1946. To maintain its sovereignty over the islands, China issued a "South Sea Islands Location Map" in 1948, which was re-adopted after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Beijing issued the Declaration on the Territorial Sea in 1958, adopted the Law on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone in 1992 and the Law on the Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf in 1998, reaffirming its sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters. In 2009, it submitted a diplomatic note, including a South China Sea map with the nine-dotted line, to the UN. The nine-dotted U-shaped line, or nine-dash map, refers to the demarcation line used by China for its claim in the South China Sea, which includes the Xisha Islands, Dongsha Islands, Zhongsha Islands and Nansha Islands including Huangyan Island and Zengmu reef.

For a long time, neighboring countries, including the Philippines, acknowledged China's sovereignty over the South China Sea islands atolls, sandbanks and reefs and their adjacent waters. The waters around the Half Moon Shoal are not part of the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. Instead, they are under the jurisdiction of China.

China first claimed straight baselines in its 1958 Declaration on the Territorial Sea, which said that the baseline for measuring the breadth of China's territorial sea is composed of the straight lines connecting the base points on the mainland coast and on the outermost points of its coastal islands.

In its Working Paper on Sea Area within the Limits of National Jurisdiction submitted to the UN Seabed Sub-Committee in 1973, China suggested that an archipelago or an island chain consisting of islands close to each other should be taken as an integral whole in defining limits of the territorial sea around it. Article 3 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone says that the method of straight baselines composed of all the straight lines joining the adjacent base points should be used to draw the baselines of China's territorial sea. China has been consistent in using straight baselines to delimit its territorial sea when it comes to an archipelago or an island chain consisting of islands close to each other that can be taken as an integral whole.

In fact, China has been insisting on using the straight baselines system since 1958, and exercising sovereign rights over the waters within the baselines. The United States and other countries only oppose China's practice to set 12 nautical miles as the width of its territorial sea and have no objection to its suggestion that an archipelago or an island chain should be taken as an integral whole in defining limits of the territorial sea around it. China's declaration on the territorial sea, measures to define limits of the territorial sea and state practice to exercise sovereign rights in the above-mentioned waters have been recognized by other countries. This means China already had historic sovereignty over the waters in question before the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea took effect.

In 1996, China announced its first batch of base points and baselines for its territorial sea, delineating baselines of most coastal sections of the mainland and the Xisha Islands. The baselines of the Xisha Islands have been delineated based on China's historic sovereignty over the waters within the baselines.

China has not delineated the baselines of the territorial sea of the Zhongsha, Dongsha and Nansha Islands. It will delineate the baselines of these islands, especially the Nansha Islands, on the basis that an archipelago or an island chain consisting of islands close to each other can be taken as an integral whole and its historic sovereignty over these islands.

The Half Moon Shoal is about 118 kilometers northeast of China's Commodore Reef and more than 110 km from the Palawan Island of the Philippines. As a result, there is a dispute between China and the Philippines over the demarcation of waters in the South China Sea. In accordance with the UNCLOS, if Beijing and Manila cannot immediately reach an agreement on maritime demarcation, they should make efforts to work out effective temporary arrangements based on the spirit of understanding and cooperation. In this context, China has always advocated negotiations to seek a peaceful resolution.

The fact is that, Beijing and Manila have agreed to cooperate to resolve the dispute through negotiations. In 2002, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including the Philippines, signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, emphasizing their determination to settle the disputes in the South China Sea through friendly negotiations and dialogue. But of late Manila has been creating trouble in the South China Sea. By claiming that China's Half Moon Shoal and its adjacent waters are part of its exclusive economic zone and carrying out "law enforcement activities" in the disputed waters, the Philippines is violating the declaration and blatantly infringing on China's territorial sovereignty. In other words, Manila's claims are illegal and invalid.

China is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and has also enacted the Wildlife Protection Law. If the Chinese fishermen have violated the convention in the waters under China's jurisdiction, it should be the Chinese-not the Philippine-court's responsibility to punish them. By detaining the Chinese fishermen in China's waters, the Philippines has infringed on China's territorial sovereignty and should be held accountable for it in an international court of law.

The author is a professor of international law and marine law at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.