| Underwater cultural heritage is not only the inheritance of the excellent history and culture of a country and a nation,but also an indispensable and important part of the world cultural heritage.It has an extremely important status and value.As a special resource,underwater cultural heritage not only has the integrity of environment,but also has the scarcity and non-renewable nature of natural resources.At the same time,it also carries the cultural attribute itself,which makes it difficult to define the legal attribute of underwater cultural heritage,and legal protection also has a certain dilemma.As a maritime power,China has a large number of underwater cultural heritages either in the territorial sea or outside the jurisdiction,which puts forward higher requirements for the legal work of underwater cultural heritage protection in China.Since the Convention for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage adopted by UNESCO came into force in 2009,the number of signatories has continued to increase,and international exchanges and cooperation on the protection of underwater cultural heritage have become increasingly frequent.However,China,as a major country of underwater cultural relics,has not yet joined the Convention.Since the 1980s,China began to pay attention to the protection of underwater cultural heritage sites,and issued a special law for the protection of underwater cultural heritage--"Regulations on the Protection and Management of Underwater Cultural Relics".Related provisions on the protection of underwater cultural heritage are also involved in relevant department laws.Although underwater cultural heritage protection in our country has formed a relatively complete legal protection system,but still in the domestic law protection and special protection system,the lack of corresponding protection principle for jurisdiction provisions of the underwater cultural heritage also has certain limitation,to some extent,limits the domestic legal protection of the underwater cultural heritage in our country.At the same time,China has not yet joined the Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage and lacks the support of the protection of underwater cultural heritage in the international law.Therefore,China’s underwater cultural heritage is still lacking in international exchanges and cooperation.Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,Xi Jinping has attached great importance to the protection of cultural heritage and formed Xi Jinping’s concept of cultural heritage with Chinese characteristics,which provides an important theoretical basis and practical guidance for the protection of cultural heritage in China.The newly issued Civil Code incorporates the green principle into the basic principles of civil law,and regards green and harmonious development as an important value criterion guiding China’s economic and social development.The th Five-Year Plan even included the protection of cultural heritage in the program,and proposed to strengthen the systematic protection of cultural relics and cultural heritage.In order to solve the dilemma underwater cultural heritage protection legislation in our country under the new period,at the same time is the revised regulations on the administration of the underwater cultural relics protection legislation advice,underwater cultural heritage protection in China should first establish the corresponding protection principle,set up special protection system,on this basis,consider creating underwater cultural heritage right,It is conducive to the more comprehensive and systematic protection of the underwater cultural heritage.Secondly,the "differentiated" jurisdiction system of underwater cultural heritage should be adapted to the international underwater cultural heritage protection convention.Finally,on the basis of comprehensive analysis of the international legislation and protection status of China’s underwater cultural heritage,China joined the Convention for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage,which provides international legal support for the protection of China’s underwater cultural heritage. |
