Compulsory Conciliation Under Article 298 Of UNCLOS:Legal Perspective

Part XV of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea(UNCLOS)is a rather complicated dispute settlement system,which has been heavily discussed by international academic community.Since the entry into force of UNCLOS,the international courts and tribunals provided in Section II of Part XV of UNCLOS have played an important role in the settlement of maritime disputes.In contrast,conciliation provided in Part XV of UNCLOS has not been utilized by states practice.It was not until 2016 that the maritime boundary dispute between Timor-Leste and Australia was referred to the conciliation procedure under UNCLOS.This is the first experience of compulsory conciliation under UNCLOS.The Timor Sea conciliation led to the successful resolution of the long-standing impasse between Timor-Leste and Australia.The use of this mechanism makes us realized the potential of conciliation in settling maritime disputes.Article 298 of UNCLOS stipulates several specific disputes that should be referred to conciliation,and rules of procedure are provided in annex V of UNCLOS.As an important part of the dispute settlement system of UNCLOS,compulsory conciliation stipulated in UNCLOS provides an alternative for dispute settlement.The compulsory conciliation in UNCLOS retains the advantages of flexibility and predictability,but at the same time there are some disadvantages.Therefore,this paper attempts to make a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of Article 298 of UNCLOS in order to provide some suggestions for China to solve sea disputes.The first chapter of this paper makes a systematic study of the Article298 of the UNCLOS,focusing on the concept of compulsory conciliation and the basic contents;On the basis of the first chapter,the second chapter specifically studies the first compulsory conciliation proceeding under Article 298 and Annex V of UNCLOS.It assesses the jurisdiction and conciliation procedures comprehensively,with a view to understanding how the compulsory conciliation may contribute to the settlement of maritime boundary disputes;The third chapter analyzes some problems existing in the provisions of the UNCLOS;The last chapter analyzes the possibility of China’s use of compulsory conciliation under article 298 of UNCLOS and provides some measures to deal with the passive circumstances from the perspective of China.