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Abstract
To achieve the goals of the Polar Silk Road strategy and boost Northeast China’s economy, China should focus on economic and trade cooperation in the Japanese Sea. Despite not being a coastal State, China can still expand its navigation rights and interests within the region. The Japanese Sea has not been fully utilized by China due to its lack of direct access, and the surrounding States’ unstable political conditions have hindered long-term economic development arrangements. This paper proposes that China should develop its right of access to the Japanese Sea through the Tumen Region and assert the navigation rights and interests of third States. China can use current agreements and international law principles to uphold its right of access to the Japanese Sea through the Tumen River. It can also invest in overseas ports and improve transportation networks to implement the strategy of "accessing the sea through harbors of other States." Furthermore, China can strengthen its presence and use of shipping routes in the Japanese Sea by strengthening regional trade routes, connecting shipping routes with the Arctic, and expanding the abroad shipping of domestic goods. Moreover, this paper suggests that China should analyze the navigation rights and interests of third States in the territorial sea, exclusive economic zones, and straits surrounding the Japanese Sea to develop its sea routes. By doing so, China can realize its goals of the Polar Silk Road strategy and revitalize Northeast China’s economy.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, opened for signature 10 December 1982, 1833 U.N.T.S. 397 (entered into force 16 November 1994).
2 Some commentators argue that according to the Convention of Peking, the Treaty of Lake Hsing-Kai, and the Protocol for the Exchange of Delimitation Maps, 20 demarcation pillars should be erected on the Sino-Russian boundary running from the Ussuri River to the Tumen River. However, the Letter “Y” pillar, the last one demarcating the east section of the Sino-Russian boundary, was never erected. In its discussions with the Russian side on the matter, the Chinese side claimed that “While Russia exerts control over the territories along the Tumen River that runs 30 li southward from the Letter "T" pillar till the estuary, the land to the east of the river is Russian territory, while that to the west is Korean. The running river itself is completely within Chinese territory." (See, Diplomatic Materials of Qing Dynasty, Memorial to the Throne by Boundary Survey Minister Wu Dacheng et al. on Meeting with Russian Boundary Survey Officials on the Tumen River Issue, and Boundary Pillar at Ningguta). By responding that Chinese ships were allowed to access the sea, the Russian side obscured the sovereignty dispute over the waters. As such, China has never given up the sovereignty claim over the waters of the Tumen River, which remains an unsettled issue. See, Does China Own Tumen River Estuary to the Sea? Direct Access under the Treaty, Letter “Y” Pillar Never Got Erected!, https://www.sohu.com/a/276910737_120019757, last visited 16 April, 2024.
3 In accordance with Oppenheim’s opinion, “State servitudes are those exceptional and conventional restrictions on the territorial supremacy of a State by which a part or the whole of its territory is in a limited way made perpetually to serve a certain purpose or interest of another State. Thus a State may by a convention be obliged to allow the passage of troops of a neighboring State, or may in the interest of a neighboring State be prevented from fortifying a certain town near the frontier.” See Oppenheim’s International Law (9th edition), volume 1, Peace, §203, pp. 273–274.
4 The preamble of the UN Charter states: “And for these ends to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors.”
5 Fisheries Case (U.K. v. Nor.), 1951 I.C.J. 116 (Judgment of 18 December 1951).
6 Trade Facilitation and Development of Regional Trade and Investment in GTR, https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/Session1-2_Chang.pdf, last visited 16 April, 2024.
7 The Agreement between the Chinese and the DPRK Governments on the Joint Development and Management on the Rason Economic and Trade Zone, and the Hwanggumpyong and Wihwa Islands Economic Zone. Available in: http://www.nkeconwatch.com/category/economic-reform/special-economic-zones-2/special-economic-zones/sinuiju/, last visited 16 April 2024.
8 The four channels include Soya Strait, Tsugaru Strait, Osumi Strait, Western Channel of Tsushima Strait, and Eastern Channel of Tsushima Strait.
9 Those fishery resources mainly originate from the upstream part of the Tumen River. And Article 66 of UNCLOS also stipulated that “States in whose rivers anadromous stocks originate shall have the primary interest in and responsibility for such stocks.
10 Article 37 of UNCLOS: “This section applies to straits which are used for international navigation between one part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone and another part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone.”
11 For instance, it is a controversial issue that whether it is necessary to have the lowest ship flows to determine the status of an international strait.
12 Corfu Channel Case (U.K. v. Alb.), 1949 I.C.J. 4 (Judgment of April 9).
13 Corfu Channel Case, ICJ judgment (April 9 1949), p.28.
14 当分の間、宗谷海峡、津軽海峡、対馬海峡東水道、対馬海峡西水道及び大隅海峡(これらの海域にそれぞれ隣接し、かつ、船舶が通常航行する経路からみてこれらの海域とそれぞれ一体をなすと認められる海域を含む。以下「特定海域」という。)については、第一条の規定は適用せず、特定海域に係る領海は、それぞれ、基線からその外側三海里の線及びこれと接続して引かれる線までの海域とする. Available in: https://www1.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/JODC/ryokai/houritu/sea.html, last visited 16 April 2024.
15 North Korea remains the only coastal State of the Japanese Sea that has not ratified UNCLOS but claims a 50-nautical mile military border. Domestic provisions of other coastal States are not inconsistent with UNCLOS. However, overlapping claims by these States have resulted in the unresolved delimitation of multiple areas of the Japanese Sea. This article focuses on the rights of a third State (such as China) in disputed areas of the Japanese Sea. As such, it does not provide detailed examinations of the existing disputes.
16 Currently, the territorial disputes between Japan and Russia over the four northern islands, the Sino-Japanese Diaoyu Islands dispute, the Agreement on the Settlement of Problems Concerning Property and Claims and Economic Co-Operation, the comfort women issue and the trade war have all contributed to the distrust among the States in the region and hindered the long-term in-depth economic cooperation.
17 Moreover, The International Maritime Organization has adopted the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters, which provides the legal basis for shipping management in the Arctic.
18 See Agreement Between Japan and the Republic of Korea Concerning the Establishment of Boundary in the Northern Part of the Continental Shelf Adjacent to the Two States.
19 See the Agreement between the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on the Delimitation of the Soviet-Korean National Border.
20 According to Articles 17 to 26 of UNCLOS, “Subject to this Convention, ships of all States, whether coastal or land-locked, enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea.” But a coastal State may adopt laws and regulations on navigation safety, traffic regulation, environmental protection, the protection of navigation facilities, customs, fiscal, immigration, sanitary and other aspects in relation to its territorial sea, and to establish sea lanes and traffic separation schemes.
21 Federal Act on the Internal Maritime Waters, Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone of the Russian Federation, 17 July 1998, http://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/RUS_1998_Act_TS.pdf, last visited April 16, 2024.
22 Law of 1977 on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone of Japan, Supplementary Provisions, paragraph 2.