|
|
Article: Are the Spratly Islets That Are Above Water at High Tide Entitled to Generate 12-Nautical-Mile Territorial Seas?
- Article from:
- Southeast Asian Affairs
- Article date:
- January 1, 2000
CopyrightCopyright Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 2000. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
Article 3 of the U.N. Law of the Sea Convention allows "Every State" to establish territorial seas around its land areas "to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles", and Article 121 allows every feature that is above water at high tide to generate such a zone. Vietnam declared a twelve-nautical-mile territorial sea around the Spratlys in 1977face=+Superscript; 16face=-Superscript; and China did so in its 1992 Territorial Sea Law. One commentator reports that Malaysia has claimed a twelve-nautical-mile territorial sea around Swallow Reef and Amboyna Cay but not around its other claimed features (Holler-Trost, as cited above).
Even though the Law of the Sea Convention allows countries to ...