- 期刊
The United States' Strategies in Shaping a Legal Order for the Seas outside the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
美国在《联合国海洋法公约》之外塑造海洋秩序的战略
摘要
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has established a legal order for the seas. The U.S. however, as a major maritime power, is not a party to the Convention. Though the current U.S. government has been positively promoting its accession to the Convention, due to the complexity of its domestic politics and highly divided domestic opinions on the accession, it is difficult for the U.S. to join the Convention in the foreseeable future. It is, therefore, necessary for the U.S., taking consideration of its national interests, to shape a favorable legal order for the seas outside the Convention, in order to have a solid legal ground to justify its maritime rights and interests. Generally speaking, the U.S. has employed three strategies in pursuing this goal: making claims based on customary international law, enforcing the Freedom of Navigation Program (FNP), and concluding bilateral ship-boarding agreements with other States under the framework of the Proliferation Security Initiative in order to go beyond the traditional jurisdictions at seas. Correspondingly, these strategies represent the legal basis of its rights, State practices where such basis of rights is maintained and rein- forced through a display of armed forces and the attempt to reshape the regime of jurisdiction over ships at sea. Consequently, the U.S.'s FNP has led to the Sino-U. S. disputes. Regarding the leading motives driving the United States to shape a legal order for the sea, one can notice that: first, such motives are a reflection of its leading status in the overall power structure of the world. Second, having the freedom of the sea as its core belief, the U.S. has also considered its national interests in the field of anti-terrorism and the prevention of proliferation of massive destructive weapons.