South China Sea "Lawfare": Fighting over the Freedom of Navigation

China's expanding military presence and assertive conduct provoked strong concerns among Western nations about the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. United States-led naval operations in contested areas have emerged as the preferred countermeasure thereto. However, diverging legal positions, complex territorial and maritime disputes, and growing aspirations to enlarged national spheres of influence have resulted in unintended outcomes. Recently, a flurry of diplomatic statements and several large-scale naval exercises have further elevated tensions. A series of controversies over oceanographic surveying and military-surveillance activities in the South China Sea have brought to the fore the long-standing struggle between coastal states and naval powers as it shaped the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The US and China hold diametrically opposed views on the rights and freedoms of warships to navigate through territorial seas and operate in exclusive economic zones (EEZs). While China has been instrumentalising UNCLOS provisions and claims to historic rights as a security-political shield, the US has been striving to safeguard its armed forces' freedom to manoeuver in East Asian seas. China's attempt to control almost the entire South China Sea and US-led efforts to push back against the former's generally rising global influence have politicised the US Navy's Freedom of Navigation Operations and obscured their objectives. Never designed to counter territorial claims, these have come to re­present "shows of force." To put a halt to the accelerating militarisation of the South China Sea, the US and China need to overcome geopolitical tunnel visions regarding one another. Also, all coastal states have to recast their claims in conformity with UNCLOS and seek cooperative arrangements as the basis for future settlements. European diplomats and defence officials should encourage Southeast Asian governments to reduce, delimit, and regulate their overlapping territorial sovereignty, EEZ, and continental shelf claims. Unlike extra-regional powers' blunt shows of force, such an alignment would put pressure on China and further the rule of international law. Europe should also encourage the US to ratify UNCLOS so as to increase the credibility of its position

“Nationals” at Forty: From an Undefined UNCLOS Term to Due Diligence Obligations on the State of Nationality to Combat IUU Fishing

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing represents a global common concern, incorporating large-scale and highly mobile environmental, economic, and sometimes criminal, concerns. IUU fishing can result in dysfunctional fisheries governance, including through the non-application of relevant conservation and management measures. Non-application results, in part, from both incomplete implementation and insufficient enforcement by flag, coastal, port, and market States, and the States of nationality. This article focuses on the State of nationality that may exercise territorial and extraterritorial prescriptive jurisdiction on the basis of the active personality principle of jurisdiction. Firstly, global instruments have long held the State of nationality as a complementary means of eliminating IUU fishing, but State practice has been previously limited. The obligations of the State of nationality have been increasingly emphasized in successive instruments as well as the treaty interpretations provided by international organizations and international courts and tribunals. Secondly, regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements have matched these global developments by equally expanding their active personality-based practice concerning IUU fishing. Thirdly, States have been implementing their obligations to exercise active personality-based jurisdiction by prescribing and enforcing domestic laws. By bringing the State of nationality to the forefront this article will demonstrate the increasing relevance of this jurisdictional actor to protect the global commons from common threats, despite its often-overlooked status in fisheries literature

"Lawfare" im Südchinesischen Meer: Der Kampf um die Freiheit der Schifffahrt

Chinas militärische Expansion und sein selbstbewusstes Auftreten im Südchinesischen Meer haben die Sorgen westlicher Regierungen um die Freiheit der Schifffahrt wachsen lassen. Als Gegenmittel haben sich von den USA geführte Marineoperationen etabliert. Umstrittene Auslegungen des Seerechts im Verein mit vielschichtigen maritimen Streitigkeiten und geopolitischen Rivalitäten zeitigen jedoch ungewollte Folgen. Zuletzt haben sich die Spannungen im Zuge diplomatischer Schlagabtausche und groß angelegter Seemanöver noch einmal verschärft. Wiederkehrende Kontroversen um ozeanografische Forschung und militärische Überwachung im Südchinesischen Meer haben den Interessengegensatz zwischen Küstenstaaten und Großmächten zum Vorschein gebracht, der auch das Seerechtsübereinkommen (SRÜ) der Vereinten Nationen prägt. Die USA und China vertreten diametral entgegengesetzte Positionen zu Fragen der militärischen Schifffahrt in Hoheitsgewässern und erlaubten Aktivitäten in Ausschließlichen Wirtschaftszonen. Während China Bestimmungen des SRÜ als sicherheitspolitischen Schild instrumentalisiert, setzen die USA alles daran, die Bewegungsfreiheit ihrer Streitkräfte zu bewahren. Chinas Versuche, große Teile des Südchinesischen Meeres zu kontrollieren, und Bestrebungen der USA, Chinas zunehmenden globalen Einfluss einzudämmen, haben die Freedom of Navigation Operations der US Navy stark politisiert. Nie zur Eindämmung von Souveränitätsansprüchen gedacht, sind sie zu Machtdemonstrationen verkommen. Um der Militarisierung des Südchinesischen Meeres Einhalt zu gebieten, müssten die USA und China ihre geopolitischen Tunnelblicke aufeinander ablegen. Auch sollten alle Anrainer ihre Ansprüche im Hinblick auf eine zukünftige Konfliktbeilegung seevölkerrechtskonform formulieren. Europäische Entscheidungsträger sollten südostasiatische Anrainerstaaten dazu anhalten, ihre konkurrierenden Ansprüche zu reduzieren und untereinander abzugrenzen. Anders als bloße Machtdemonstrationen würde diese Annäherung innerhalb Südostasiens den Druck auf China erhöhen und den Geltungsanspruch des Völkerrechts stärken. Zudem sollte Europa die USA dazu auffordern, das SRÜ zu ratifizieren, um die Glaubwürdigkeit ihrer Außenpolitik in der Region zu stärken