중국의 해양관할권 확대 정책에 대한 소고 - 대륙붕 및 배타적경제수역 제도와 관련 문제를 중심으로 -

Abstract

China has a long coastline of approximately 18,000kilometers and hence an extensive continental shelf as well as an EEZ. Its coastline is said to be the tenth longest and the continental shelf to be the seventh largest in the world. The total sea area in the China Seas is about 4.7million square kilometers. The Bohai Gulf, the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea are all situated to the east of the Chinese mainland, and they are sometimes called collectively the East China Seas. The South China Sea situated to the south of the mainland is the largest and deepest as well as most complicated in topography of the four seas. The Gulf of Tonkin is situated to the north-west of Hainan Island in the South China Sea. By the way, despite these advantageous circumstances in geography, China failed to become a sea power like Spain, Portugal, Netherland and the UK. So she remained a land power for a long time except when Zheng He, the great seafarer in Chinese history, led the greatest ocean-going fleets of the world of that time, sailing to the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, during the years from 1405 to 1433. As a result, China suffered foreign invasions several times from the sea, defeating the Opium War as well as the Sino-Japanese War in the nineteenth century. It is only natural that China has opposed to the traditional freedom of the seas since the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. When China took part in all the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea(UNCLOS Ⅲ) negotiations, its policy and position on the major issues were almost identical with those of the developing countries. Moreover, the two most significant physical features of China's geography, the long coastline and extensive continental shelf, naturally led China to adopt a position favoring extensive coastal State jurisdiction : creeping jurisdiction policy. China ratified the UN LOS Convention in 1996, 14 years after signing it. Thus China has committed itself to develop its domestic laws and regulations on maritime affairs in accordance with the UN LOS Convention and to meet the demands and changed circumstances in the use of oceans. Taking into account above-mentioned circumstances, I attempted to provide an overview of the China's creeping jurisdiction policy by examining its attitude towards the UNCLOS Ⅲ, essential elements of the Chinese marine laws and regulations, with special emphasis to the continental shelf and the EEZ regime, and other relevant maritime issues in the context of Korea's negotiation vis à vis China.