| For a long time,technological improvements have been challenging our traditional understanding of established concepts,and the turnover of unmanned technology has led to some devices being removed from human operation,thus becoming more lightweight,unmanned and autonomous.In the maritime domain,contemporary breakthroughs in unmanned technology have resulted in the creation of a number of unmanned underwater vehicles: these new devices remain remote-controlled or autonomous-controlled,performing the same tasks as manned vessels do in the sea.Because unmanned underwater vehicles have many advantages that manned ships do not,they can often do better in those aforementioned specific areas.But on the other hand,the concept and legal status of these unmanned underwater vehicles remains somewhat unclear.Do they belong to ships? Or devices? Or just weapons? Can those remotely-controlled UUVs share the legal status of that platform?Since no law exists pertaining to the specific legal status of UUVs,different UUVs may have different legal status,and thus subject to different rights and obligations;at the same time,these UUVs may also participate in the area of maritime law enforcement,navigation activities and military activities,where specific problems as a result of their unique way of operation may arise.For example,how do UUVs exercise the right of visit and research? Is it a lawful ruse to conduct bio-mimicry? Does the refusal of a sovereign immune UUV to respond to certain orders raised by the coastal state means that the coastal state can take more coercive countermeasures against it? Based on this,it can be argued that,generally,UUVs may pose challenges to existing rules of international law in two major ways: on the one hand,the classification dilemma arising from different status and categories of UUVs;on the other hand,the application and adjustment of the law with regards to the specific activities of UUVs.These two issues are often intertwined,and the nature and status of UUVs are often closely interplayed with the rights and obligations raised by their activities.Therefore,when examining specific rules from the perspective of UUV activities at sea,the legal status of UUVs should become as a prerequisite for this assessment.These legal issues raised by UUVs became more apparent after Chinese Navy verified U.S.UUV within nine-dash line in South China Sea in 2016.The different positions as regards the legal status of UUVs between China and the United States implied that fact that the relevant rules are far less undisputed.However,as more UUVs being put into practice,it is inevitable that the conflict of rights between coastal states will become much more intense.Therefore,international community should promote in-depth discussions and studies on the legal rules of UUVs and adopt a set of wellaccepted regulations.For China,UUV technology sets also as a priority for China’s technological development,and researching the international rules of UUVs may improve China’s understanding of the legal status,legal consequences,and legal rights and obligations of UUVs,for the purpose of making good use of UUVs in maritime operations and effectively managing the activities of foreign UUVs in waters under national jurisdiction.In terms of the categories of those activities,while UUVs may be regarded as useful in civilian operations such as scientific exploration,commercial transportation,and maritime rescue,the most promising and challenging functions for UAVs are those involving military use in wartime such as mine warfare,submarine warfare,missile warfare,intelligence reconnaissance,information communication,and transportation of critical equipment.Therefore,this article will explore the international law that involves the military use of UUVs in wartime.Based on the aforementioned considerations,the thesis includes five chapters.These five chapters are sorted by “Overview-Rules for Carriage and Installation of Weapons-Rules of Targeting-Rules of Methods of Warfare-Rules of Immunity”,where international rules and its limitations pertaining to military use of UUVs in wartime are discussed separately.The section of overview focuses on the general legal rules that governs all aspects of the specific activities of UUVs,such as the characteristics,nature,status,and navigational rights of UUVs,these issues are dealt with the first chapter.The rules of immunity,which extend the effects of military use from belligerent states to neutral states,are also an important part of the discussion on the legal aspects of the wartime military use of UUVs which incorporated into the last chapter of the research.The first chapter of the thesis is an overview section that introduces the concepts,categories,and characteristics of UUVs,describes the functions of UUVs,and discusses the issues of their legal status and related navigational rights.The special designs and methods of operation of UUVs are emphasized,as well as challenges posed by those characteristics to the existing rules of law,where different legal status and corresponding navigational rights of UUVs will be discussed.The first chapter of this thesis contends that UUVs are remotely-controlled or automatically-controlled unmanned devices capable of performing maritime functions of manned vessels,the three characteristics of “navigability”,“multi-tasking” and “unmanned” contribute to the fact that UUVs may have different legal status,rights and obligations,and discusses different approaches to regard a UUV as a “ship”,“warship” and “weapon” in the sense of international rules.After clarifying the concept of unmanned submerged vehicles,their characteristics,and the legal status they may enjoy based on these characteristics,Chapter 1 further analyses the maritime navigation activities of unmanned submerged vehicles.This part will first explore the concept of navigational rights in a general sense and the legal regime that provides for them,exploring whether the various types of navigational rights based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea are premised on what constitutes a ship.Subsequently,when discussing the specific legal restrictions on the navigational rights related to UAVs,the basic idea of classifying UAVs into ships and non-ships will be upheld,and the space of legal restrictions faced by the navigational rights conditional on ships in specific waters will be explored firstly,and secondly,the space of legal restrictions faced by UAVs in the territorial sea,archipelagic waters,international straits,archipelagic sea lanes,exclusive economic zones and high seas,such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea Secondly,to explore what legal problems will be encountered in exercising the right of navigation in different types of sea areas under UNCLOS,such as territorial waters,archipelagic waters,international straits,archipelagic sea lanes,exclusive economic zones and high seas,and how to respond to these problems in terms of rule interpretation,and then to explore whether it means that non-vessel UAVs are ipso facto not entitled to navigate in specific sea areas when they are deprived of certain navigational rights under UNCLOS,and how to legally regulate the navigational activities of these non-vessel type devices.This chapter will be based on UNCLOS.This chapter will delve into the legal restrictions faced by different types of navigational rights based on the provisions of UNCLOS,and embed them in the specific area of navigational activities carried out by unmanned underwater vehicles(UUVs),specifically analysing the rules and restrictions that should be observed when UUVs carry out navigational activities according to their different subject positions.The second chapter of the thesis begins to address the issue of the military use of UUVs in wartime.This chapter analyses the legal rules that apply in the activities of UUVs carrying or installing weapons.The activities of carrying or installing weapons entail a variety of acts which subject to different rules.Specifically,acts of carrying weapons are mainly subject to the laws relevant to the transportation of weapons,while the act of installing and equipping weapons may also be regulated by weapons law and targeting law;in addition,UUVs may also constitute a part of weapons where laws of means and methods of warfare with regard to specific weapons apply.After classifying different kinds of acts of carrying and installing weapons,this chapter first examines the categories of weapons which are generally prohibited from carrying or installing by UUVs from the perspective of weapons law,and then clarifies the treaty laws and customary international rules concerning such prohibitions,weapons control and international customary law rules regulating the use of weapons,especially the principles of prohibition on unnecessary sufferings and indiscriminate attacks,and finally,from the perspective of the relationship between autonomous weapons systems and the principle of the Malton Clause,this chapter considers that the rules on carrying and installing weapons by UUVs may entail the prohibition of installing fully autonomous weapons which may be regarded as contrary to the rules of the Malton Clause.After clarifying the prohibition on the carrying of weapons,this chapter then turns to analyse the rules governing the means of warfare concerning specific weapons.Three areas are most relevant to the military use of UUVs: mine warfare,submarine warfare,and missile warfare.This chapter points out that,in the field of mine warfare,the use of UUVs subjects to the Hague Convention VIII and customary international rules on mine warfare,but the evolved rules may appears to be different from the Hague Convention VIII and the rules of international customary law in terms of the prohibited types of mines,the sea areas where mines are laid,the obligation to notify the laying of mines and the obligation to clear mines;as far as the legal rules of submarine warfare are concerned,even though the laws of submarine warfare were severely violated in WWI and WWII,there still exists a sufficient basis to require UUVs to follow the same rules as manned surface ships complied,especially in the field of visit and capture of neutral merchant ships,and the binding force of the existing laws cannot be challenged from the structural contradiction between the function of submarines and the relevant legal system,but the safety of the use of submarines can be ensured through other measures such as the establishment of maritime exclusion zones;for missile warfare,in applying the basic provisions of international humanitarian law and armed conflict regarding the principle of distinction,special attention should be paid to the nature of different types of contemporary maritime structure or facilities,such as equipment engaged in humanitarian missions and neutral submarine cables,which may require UUVs to identify them carefully based on a higher requirements before launching such missile attacks.The third chapter of the thesis analyses the rules of military use of UUVs in wartime regarding laws of the targeting and attacking.The act of initiating an attack is independent of the use of a specific weapon.This chapter clarifies that the act of initiating an attack by UUVs includes the components of acquiring and checking information,identifying and targeting military object,and evaluating and selecting attack attacking options,which is governed by the principles of distinction,proportionality,and rules to take all feasible precautions to ensure that the attacks will effectively comply with the law.For precautionary measures,the use of UUVs should follow the requirements of information verification,means of combat selection and notification obligations in precautionary measures,and subject to different obligations and responsibilities in the selection of means of combat with different states of human“in the loop”,and clarify the allocation of responsibilities for UUVs to perform precautionary measures in the event of a struggle for control.For the principle of distinction,the use of UUVs does not limit to identification non-military targets protected by international humanitarian law,but also identification of changing military and non-military targets,which involves analysing and interpreting a series of components of the principle of distinction and applying it precisely in the context of naval warfare.For the principle of proportionality,UUV activities may provide sufficient information intelligence or data analysis for the evaluation based on the principle of proportionality.However,because proportionality evaluation are not limited to simple data analysis,but also involve a complex assessment of expectations,direct military benefits,and collateral civilian damage resulting from the attack according to the different battlefield environment,it seems that a comprehensive study and evaluation by a human commander with military experience still matters.Finally,it should also be clear that the use of UUVs which does not meet the requirements of the aforementioned principles is not necessarily considered unlawful,but the conduct of an UUV is considered unlawful only if the conditions set forth in the law are not met but the attack raised by that UUV is carried out.Chapter four of the thesis deals with specific tactical methods for UUVs engaging in combat.These methods of operations are not associated with the use of specific weapons,nor are they part of the general rules of targeting and attacking,but rather special methods of warfare.The ability of UUVs to operate independently at sea in a non-manned manner makes them compatible to engage in biomimicry,denial of specific markings,or manipulated by civilians to conduct offensive operations.None of these acts would be definitely considered as illegal acts of ruses of war or unlawful perfidy under the law of armed conflict.Biomimicry depends on whether the animal or group of animals are considered as specially protected object under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict and whether it is a prohibited means of warfare under the weapons law.The refusal of markings depends on whether the UUV requires specific markings,and whether certain markings can be impersonated as a perfidy also subjects to different understandings of the illegality of perfidious conduct.Civilian manipulation of an UUV to conduct an attack is unlikely to be found to be perfidious,but whether it constitutes direct engagement in hostilities depends on the identification of the subject of the manipulation as well as the form and extent of such manipulation.Chapter five of the thesis examines the issue of right of immunity raised when the military use of UUV violates the corresponding rights of a neutral state in the context of wartime.This chapter first explores the categories of the right of immunity and the ways and means by which a subject is granted immunity under international law,and clarifies in a general sense the basic categories of certain immunities of a particular status.Subsequently,after clarifying the range of different subjects which UUV may constitute,the possible legal restrictions on those immunities will be discussed,and the legal space in which the immunities of these subjects may be restricted will be identified.Finally,based on the particular issue raised by the activities of UUVs,this chapter explores the consequences which the unique model of operation of UUVs will bring within the flexible legal space where the limitations on such immunities may exist,and the specific types of such limitations.This analysis will take the perspective of the legal limitations on activities of UUVs as warships or government vessels within the territorial sea,exploring whether and how this analytical approach on immunity limitations could be extended to other maritime areas such as the exclusive economic zone,international straits,and the high seas.In the concluding part of this chapter,the scope of the immunity rights enjoyed by UUVs that do not constitute government vessels but only state property,as well as UUVs that do not share the status of these specific subjects and their limits should also be addressed.This chapter provides a systematic and holistic mode of thinking for the legal review of the immunity status of UUVs engaged in maritime activities and their legal limitations,where the special issues posed by UUV activities is fully considered. |
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