중국의 '구단선'(九段線)에 관한 여러 가지 해석들과 UN해양법협약

Various Interpretations on the Nine-Dash Line and the UNCLOS

The Government of Philippines submitted its Notification to the Government of China in accordance with Paragraph 1 of Annex VII to the UNCLOS on 22 January 2013. The objective of the Notification was to establish an arbitral tribunal in order to settle several disputes with China in the South China Sea. Although China had confirmed its non-appearance with respect to arbitral proceedings, the arbitral tribunal was established in compliance with relevant rules under the UNCLOS on 21 June 2013. One of the Philippines' claims mentioned by the Notification is that China's maritime rights relating to the Nine-Dash Line are contrary to the UNCLOS and therefore invalid. Since the Government of China has not provided an official interpretation on the Nine-Dash Line, this article has no choice but to deal with the relevance of the UNCLOS to each interpretation given by several international law scholars. The concept of historic waters, traditional maritime boundary line, or historic rights referred to by various interpretations on the Nine-Dash Line could be viewed as compatible with the UNCLOS. However, it is another issue whether or not a certain concept in accordance with the UNCLOS can provide the legal basis for the Nine-Dash Line. Unless China officially regards the Nine-Dash Line as the limit line of China's territorial claims in the South China Sea, the concept of historic waters, traditional maritime boundary line, or historic rights in compliance with the regime of the UNCLOS will be a criterion to determine whether or not each interpretation on the Nine-Dash Line can be justified. According to the criterion, the existence of the Nine-Dash Line would be contrary to the UNCLOS. It is evident that the invocation of the UNCLOS is the only way to challenge the legality of the Nine-Dash Line. The reasons for this are twofold. First, the Nine-Dash Line appears at 'sea'. Second, the process of codifying the international law of the 'sea' has led to the birth of the UNCLOS.