On the UNCLOS and Vested Maritime Rights

Download or read book On the UNCLOS and Vested Maritime Rights written by Miao He and published by LAP Lambert Academic Publishing. This book was released on 2011-02-01 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, while giving new maritime rights and interests to states, does not break the existing maritime legal order or affect the vested maritime rights of the states. The systems of archipelagic waters, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf provided for by the Convention allow states to extend their sovereignty or sovereign rights to wider sea areas. However, states can extend their sovereign rights only to areas traditionally recognized as open seas and, in doing so, they may not infringe upon the vested territorial sovereignty or sovereign rights of other states. The various historical rights enjoyed by China over the South China Sea are vested rights that had been established long before the entry into force of the Convention.