Op-Ed Contributors

No dispute over these waters

By Jiang He (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-04 09:27

History shows that China's occupation of the islands is in accordance with the requirements of effective governance, established by the Legal Status of Eastern Greenland Case. So, all the islands inside the U-shaped traditional maritime boundary are Chinese territory. China recovered the Nansha Islands in 1946 and the then Chinese government sent troops to the islands on garrison duty. And since 1949, the People's Republic of China has maintained its sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and taken effective measures according to relative international laws.

Some Southeast Asian countries' sovereignty claims over the Nansha Islands are based on the principle of national security and adjacency. But the national security principle is applicable only to protect a country's inherent territory and cannot be considered a legal basis of its sovereignty. Thus the national security principle proposed by some Southeast Asian countries cannot challenge China's sovereignty over the Nansha Islands.

If these countries forcibly occupy the Nansha Islands, brandishing the national security principle, they would actually be violating the very same principle. And if the principle of adjacency is valid in acquiring a territory, then the Hawaiian Islands of the US, Australia's Christmas Island and the overseas territories of some European countries could be claimed by the countries nearest to them.

Therefore, resorting to the principle of national security or adjacency to claim sovereignty over the Nansha Islands cannot be in accordance with international laws and practices.

It is advisable to use diplomatic and international judicial channels to solve the disputes over the islands' sovereignty. Under the current strained international situation, China should expedite efforts to conduct an empirical study on sea disputes and establish its indisputable sovereignty over the islands.

China should first seek evidence to support its claim on the basis of the occupation principle. Then it should take measures to safeguard its territorial sovereignty through peaceful international procedures and judicial mechanisms t. While choosing the path of resolution, China should stick to its basic principle of shelving differences to seek joint development - but it should do that on the precondition of enjoying indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands.

The author is a research fellow with the School of Law, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, and a member of China Maritime Law Association.