The following is the May 24, 2018 Congressional Research Service report, Maritime Territorial and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) Disputes Involving China: Issues for Congress. Read More
Tag Archives: EEZ
China and Vietnam Call a Maritime Truce
Liu Yunshan (R), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, holds talks with Le Hong Anh, special envoy of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam(CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong, also a Politburo member and standing secretary of the Secretariat of the CPV Central Committee, in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 27, 2014. Xinhua Photo
An ongoing dispute over territorial rights in the South China Sea between China and Vietnam may have cooled, following a Wednesday Beijing meeting between both countries, according to reports in Chinese state-run media. Read More
China Claims U.S. Is Encouraging ‘Dangerous and Provocative Actions’ in Oilrig Standoff
File photo of the Haiyang Shiyou 981 oilrig. Xinhua Photo
Chinese officials are claiming the U.S. is stoking international discord over a disputed drilling operation in an area of the South China Sea in territory claimed by both China and Vietnam, according to a Tuesday statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Read More
Hanoi: Chinese Ships Rammed Vietnamese Patrol Boats in Escalating Oilrig Dispute
Chinese ships firing water cannons at Vietnamese patrol vessels. Vietnam National Border Committee Photo
Vietnamese officials accused Chinese ships of ramming patrol boats on May 3, near the $1 billion Chinese oil rig operating in waters both Beijing and Hanoi claim as their exclusive territory. Read More
Officials: ‘Illegal’ Chinese Oilrig is in Vietnamese Waters
China National Offshore Oil Corporation Oil rig. CNOOC Photo
Vietnamese officals are calling the presence of an offshore Chinese oilrig off the coast of Vietnam “illegal and invalid,” fueling ongoing territorial disputes between Hanoi and Beijing, according to a Monday report by the Reuters wire service. Read More
Oceans: Putting up the ‘Keep Out’ Signs
Proceedings, January 2013
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are designated sites found throughout the World Ocean that are set aside for special protection and management. They conserve and protect sensitive ecosystems as well as cultural history. Governments ranging from the national to the local levels have established MPAs in almost every coastal nation in the world.
At 132,000 square miles, Hawaii’s Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument is one of the world’s largest protected oceanic spaces. But the total global area of such preserves is still just a drop in the bucket. NOAA Photo
The United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty (UNCLOS) gives signatory coastal states a 200-mile wide Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This includes a 12-mile-wide territorial sea where those countries have full sovereign rights. Beyond that point, states have quasi-sovereign rights to regulate almost all activities out to their 200-mile boundary. Thus coastal states have clear authority to establish MPAs within their EEZs. However, at present most are located within territorial waters. Read More
