The ancient history of mankind is a history of land rights. Modern history is a history of sea power. Although Magellan and Columbus sailed to the end of the world, sea power as a theory has not even been written. However, practice precedes the theory of sea power, which ultimately determines the trend of the world we live in for 500 years.
The great geographical discovery brought by the era of great navigation and the initial realization of global material circulation and predatory trade supported the prosperity of Portugal and Spain for a hundred years; Then Great Britain ruled by controlling the oceans for 300 years. By the rise of the United States and the two world wars, all major countries are competing for colonial interests and trade dominance brought about by marine strategy, and a considerable part of the battlefield to solve this conflict is concentrated in the ocean. It can be seen that the ocean will play a great role in the historical process of the world today and even in the future.
The present situation of China's maritime rights and interests
1. Our island is occupied. In the East China Sea, Diaoyu Island, the inherent territory of China, was illegally occupied by the Japanese. Diaoyu Island has always been a shelter for fishermen in China, but it is actually controlled by the Japanese. The Japanese not only oppose China's navy approaching the Diaoyu Islands, but also China's scientific research vessels, and even China fishermen cannot fish in the nearby waters. Japan refuses to recognize China's sovereignty over Diaoyu Islands. Among the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea, 40 islands are occupied by other countries, and only 8 islands are actually controlled by China.
2. Marine resources are plundered. The dispute over the ownership of island sovereignty is accompanied by various contradictions centered on resources. At present, countries and regions around the South China Sea have put into production more than 0/000 oil wells/kloc-0 in Nansha waters. Most of these oil wells are located on the China side of the South China Sea discontinuity line, and the annual oil output exceeds 60 million tons. In addition, China has implemented a summer fishing moratorium in the South China Sea since 1999, but some countries not only claim that China has no right to declare a fishing moratorium, but also use the fishing moratorium of Chinese fishermen to fish.
3. There are many contradictions in the delimitation of sea areas. China borders the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea. Due to the narrow sea area, the contradiction between China and its maritime neighbors is more prominent. In the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, its widest point is only 360 nautical miles, less than 400 nautical miles, and some sea areas claim to overlap. The Yellow Sea covers 250,000 square kilometers under the jurisdiction of China, with a total area of 380,000 square kilometers. However, some countries advocate taking the equidistant line as the boundary, and according to this division, hundreds of thousands of square kilometers can be drawn. The continental shelf of the East China Sea is a natural extension of China, so 540,000 square kilometers of the 770,000 square kilometers of the East China Sea should be under the jurisdiction of China. Japan, on the other hand, claims that China and Japan are * * * countries, and demands that the sea areas be divided according to the median line. According to this unreasonable demand, there are more than100000 square kilometers of disputed areas between Japan and China.
4. Potential threats of maritime transport corridors. Because of its important strategic position, the South China Sea has been included in the global strategy of the United States, and it has been listed as one of the 16 maritime choke points to be controlled by the United States. The United States has changed its policy on the South China Sea issue from "passive neutrality" to "active neutrality", and claimed that Diaoyu Island belongs to the common security of the United States and Japan. The South China Sea is regarded as a traditional sphere of influence by Japan, and the South China Sea traffic line is regarded as the lifeline of Japan. Therefore, under the pretext of "ensuring maritime navigation" and "opposing the use of force", Japan actively intervened in China's South China Sea affairs. In recent years, the United States and Japan have tried to control the Malacca Strait, which is known as the lifeline of China, on the grounds of cracking down on pirate terrorist activities and maintaining smooth international navigation channels, because at present, more than 90% of crude oil imported by China needs to be transported through the Malacca Strait by tankers. These external factors will pose a serious threat to China's positive development and national security.
Strategic thinking on China's safeguarding maritime rights and interests
First, improve China's marine legislation
Since the 1980s, the China government has successively formulated, promulgated and implemented a series of marine laws and regulations, mainly including the Marine Environmental Protection Law, the Maritime Traffic Safety Law, the Fisheries Law, the territorial sea and the contiguous zone, the Regulations on the Administration of Foreign-related Marine Scientific Research, the Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf Law, etc. It can be said that the above-mentioned laws and regulations cover all the sea areas under the jurisdiction of China, which makes the basic rights of coastal countries under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea reflected in China's domestic legislation. However, at present, in China's current marine legislation, the contents of military utilization of marine areas and marine military operations are still blank. These gaps make the illegal military actions of foreign military ships and planes in the waters controlled by China become unscrupulous. Therefore, the navy with the closest relationship with the ocean should actively promote the marine legislation related to maritime military operations in peacetime.
Temporary arrangement, shelving disputes and joint development are the basic principles for safeguarding maritime rights and interests.
* * * Joint development refers to the exploration and development of related resources in overlapping claimed sea areas on the basis of mutual consent under the condition of temporarily shelving the dispute over exclusive sovereignty rights of resource development. It is a functional cooperation system recognized and adopted by many countries in the world. It will not affect the opinions of the countries concerned, but also explore and develop resources in a timely and effective manner based on the principles of economic interests and respective interests, so that both sides can quickly obtain the maximum economic benefits from commercial oil discovery and production. * * * An appropriate balance has been established between the practical consideration of developing resources in disputed areas of the countries concerned and safeguarding their respective opinions or positions.
In the East China Sea, if China and Japan can jointly develop the continental shelf of the East China Sea, it will benefit both China and Japan. On the one hand, China and Japan are both big oil consumers and big oil importers. On the other hand, Chinese and Japanese oil companies have cooperated for more than ten years, and the joint development of Chinese and Japanese oil companies in Bohai Bay is quite successful. Through joint development, both countries can increase new oil sources without giving up their ideas, and from China's point of view, they can also obtain capital and technology. Politically, joint development will also help maintain the stability of the East China Sea. In fact, Japan has never explicitly rejected China's joint development proposal.
In the South China Sea, the Nansha Islands dispute involves five countries and six parties, and the settlement of its problems is a long-term process. In order to properly resolve the disputes in the South China Sea, China creatively put forward the idea of "shelving disputes and jointly developing" from the overall situation of maintaining regional peace and stability. Up to now, some positive progress has been made in the settlement of disputes in Nansha Islands. First, China and ASEAN countries signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea on June 5438+065438+ 10, 2002, aiming at maintaining the stability of the situation in the South China Sea and emphasizing the settlement of disputes by peaceful means. Second, the Sino-Vietnamese Beibu Gulf Delimitation Agreement and the Fisheries Cooperation Agreement came into effect in June 2004. This is the first time that China and neighboring countries have resolved the maritime delimitation issue through peaceful negotiations, which is of great significance for promoting the settlement of maritime disputes such as Nansha. Third, in March 2005, the oil companies of China, the Philippines and Vietnam signed the Tripartite Joint Marine Earthquake Work Conference in the South China Sea Agreement Zone, and the disputed countries in Nansha took a historic and substantial step of "shelving disputes and jointly developing". On a larger scale, China has established a strategic partnership with ASEAN countries for peace and prosperity, and is building a China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, which will undoubtedly help ease the situation in Nansha. Of course, since all parties will not give up their sovereignty requirements and vested interests easily, the settlement of the South China Sea issue is still quite complicated, long-term and arduous.
Increasing investment in science and technology and capital is an important guarantee for safeguarding maritime rights and interests.
The development of marine resources needs capital and scientific and technological input. Although the Convention stipulates the principle of "parallel development" of the international seabed as a "human heritage", it is difficult to achieve equality in practice because of the disparity in comprehensive national strength among countries. Without the support of high technology and high economic investment, you are not qualified to be a "pioneer investment developer" and have no ability to participate in the development of deep-sea mineral deposits. At the same time, in the cooperation mode of "* * * with development" implemented in disputed waters, scientific and technological advantages also contribute to income distribution. At present, marine development is difficult, with high investment, high risk and long cycle. In order to obtain the best development benefit, high-tech investment must be the premise.
Four. Establish a comprehensive maritime security system to safeguard national security.
Sea power is a country's ability to control the ocean by using military power, and the most direct embodiment is the strength of sea power. The establishment of a powerful and deterrent modern navy is the first step of China's sea power strategy and the first step of safeguarding China's maritime rights and interests.
An air defense identification zone should be established to strengthen the vigilance and control of coastal waters and airspace. Air defense identification zone refers to a specific airspace adjacent to a country's airspace, which is designated outside its airspace for air defense needs. Current international law does not prohibit countries from establishing air defense identification zones in international airspace near their airspace. So far, more than 30 countries, including the United States, Japan and Canada, have established such air defense identification zones. In view of the security situation around China, especially the maritime security situation, it is imperative to establish an air defense identification zone in China.
Strengthen rights protection cruise. In 2008, China has established an all-sea rights cruise system, and included 3 million square kilometers of sea areas under its jurisdiction in the management of regular rights cruise system. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the territorial sea and the contiguous zone of People's Republic of China (PRC), the Law on People's Republic of China (PRC)'s Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf, the Regulations on the Administration of Foreign-related Marine Scientific Research in People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Regulations on the Laying of Submarine Cables and Pipelines, the Marine Corps patrolling in China conducts cruise supervision in the waters under my jurisdiction and cruise surveillance in the disputed waters between China and neighboring countries.
Going to the sea is the same strategic choice and path for all powerful countries. Today, coastal countries pay more attention to the strategic position and great value of the ocean than ever before. The 2 1 century international maritime rights and interests dispute, which is characterized by competing for marine resources, controlling marine space and seizing the commanding heights of marine science and technology, is becoming increasingly fierce. The situation of marine rights protection faced by China will be more severe and complicated. In the new round of maritime competition, how to defend China's maritime territory, defend China's maritime rights and interests, handle relations with neighboring countries, and maintain regional peace and stability are important issues that we should consider and respond to.