China's Maritime Law Enforcement Activities in the South China Sea

Authors

Diane Desierto, Notre Dame Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2020

Publication Information

96 Int'l L. Stud. 257 (2020).

Abstract

China, one of the territorial and maritime claimants of the South China Sea, declared in April 2020 that it had created two new administrative districts in the South China Sea:

Xisha district, covering the Paracel Islands and Macclesfield Bank, and Nansha district covering the Spartly [sic] Islands .... The new administrative districts are to be under the authority of the local government in Sansha, a city located on Woody Island which is administratively part of Hainan province. The Xisha district will be based in Sansha while the Nansha district will operate from Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratlys.

Sansha City was "established on July 24, 2012 to administer the Xisha, Zhongsha, and Nansha Islands and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea." Sansha City administers nearly two million square kilometers, but this area currently includes only around 20 square kilometers of land.

As part of this process, China also named over eighty islands and other geo- graphical features in the South China Sea, with the Chinese Foreign Ministry quoted as saying that the Spratly Islands and Paracel Islands are "innate territories."

Comments

Abstract from section 1.

Recommended Citation

Diane Desierto, China's Maritime Law Enforcement Activities in the South China Sea, 96 Int'l L. Stud. 257 (2020)..
Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/1798