"Rule By Law: China’s Increasingly Global Legal Reach" - By CWP Alum Isaac Kardon

Rather than changing maritime rules, China is gradually changing the international environment in which those rules take effect. The effective scope of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is observably narrower where China is involved.HOW IS CHINA TRYING TO CHANGE THE RULES OR MAKE NEW RULES FOR MARITIME ISSUES, IN PARTICULAR REGARDING BOUNDARIES AND ENTITLEMENTS, ACCESS TO RESOURCES, NAVIGATION, AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION?People’s Republic of China (PRC) domestic law enforcement and policy implementation in disputed maritime zones are the practical methods by which China seeks to change maritime rules. These organized assertions of China’s claimed maritime rights are effective mainly in maritime East Asia, where we can observe: (1) PRC maritime law enforcement (MLE) vessels (2) enforcing PRC maritime law and regulations and (3) implementing maritime and boundary policies issued by the state bureaucracy (including executive, legislative, and judicial organs) (4) under the political direction of central Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership. Collectively, these patterns of PRC practice can be understood as “China’s law of the sea,” a creeping process that is transforming regional maritime order.

4 May 2023 - https://policycommons.net/artifacts/3772472/rule-by-law/4578147/

Isaac B. Kardon is a senior fellow for China studies in the Asia Program. He was formerly assistant professor at the U.S. Naval War College, China Maritime Studies Institute, where he researched China’s maritime affairs, and taught naval officers and national security professionals about PRC foreign and security policy.

Photo Credit: By w:ja:User:Dokutou - Originally uploaded as w:ja:ファイル:Bankokukouhou.PNG by w:ja:User:Dokutou on the Japanese Wikipedia, with the original source text "『万国公法』の写真"., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=99664861