The recent decision by Japan and the Philippines to launch negotiations on the delimitation of their exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and continental shelves in waters east of China’s Taiwan island constitutes an internationally wrongful act, as the move disregards China’s lawful maritime rights and proceeds without prior consultation with China, according to a legal commentary released by China’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) on Thursday.
The remarks were made in a document titled Legal Commentary on Japan and the Philippines’ Announcement of Bilateral Maritime Delimitation Negotiations. The document states that, in order to fulfill their international obligations and bear state responsibility, Japan and the Philippines should immediately halt the bilateral talks and engage in consultations with China.
From the perspective of the overall geographical situation and the relative positions of the relevant coasts, the maritime area claimed by Japan and the Philippines for EEZ and continental shelf delimitation lies in waters east of Taiwan island, it said. Delimitation in this area therefore involves three states — China, Japan and the Philippines.
According to the document, Japan and the Philippines both claim that they are entitled under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to EEZs and continental shelves extending from their respective territorial sea baselines. China, based on its territory including Taiwan island, is likewise entitled to an EEZ and continental shelf in the same area.
As a result, the EEZ and continental shelf claims of China, Japan and the Philippines overlap extensively in waters east of Taiwan island, with most of the areas subject to overlapping claims by all three countries. None of the three countries has delimited the relevant maritime boundaries, and such delimitation should be effected by agreement on the basis of international law in order to achieve an equitable solution, the document states.
The MNR document said that Japan and the Philippines are maritime neighbors of China in the relevant area. The waters proposed for bilateral delimitation overlap extensively with the EEZ and continental shelf that China is entitled to claim under international law. By advancing delimitation negotiations without consulting China, Japan and the Philippines have disregarded the special geographical circumstances of the area, violated the principles of sovereign equality and good faith, as well as the obligations of cooperation and restraint under international law, thereby constituting an internationally wrongful act.
The MNR’s report not only refutes Japan and the Philippines’ claims that their bilateral delimitation is being conducted “in accordance with international law,” demonstrating that the move clearly violates international law, but also exposes the underlying intention of bypassing China as an indispensable party to the delimitation process while hyping the Taiwan question, disregarding China’s sovereignty over Taiwan, and even attempting to challenge the one-China principle, Chen Xidi, an expert at the China Institute for Marine Affairs under the MNR, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Besides, Chen said the Taiwan authorities have no role, and can never have any role, in the so-called maritime delimitation, nor could they ever constitute a separate “party” to such negotiations.
The report also argues from a legal perspective that external forces must not support Japan, the Philippines or the Taiwan authorities on the issue. Otherwise, they could become accomplices in internationally wrongful acts, and China would be entitled to take lawful countermeasures, Chen stressed.
He also noted that particular attention should be paid to a previous joint statement issued by the British, French and German offices in Taiwan, which claimed that China’s lawful activities in waters east of Taiwan island threatened regional stability, freedom of navigation and international shipping security. The report appears intended, in part, to respond to such claims.
The geographical configuration of China’s Taiwan island makes it impossible for Japan and the Philippines to delimit maritime boundaries without affecting China’s maritime rights and interests, Ding Duo, director of the Research Center for International and Regional Issues at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Unilateral delimitation negotiations between Japan and the Philippines would affect China’s maritime claims and the outcome of any future maritime boundary delimitation, violating the obligations set out in Articles 74 and 83 of UNCLOS, Ding said.
By directly or indirectly creating obligations for a third party or depriving it of its lawful rights, the two countries would also violate Articles 34 to 38 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, as well as customary international law governing equitable maritime delimitation, the principle of good faith, and the obligation of restraint, the expert added.
