Research On The Freedom Of Navigation Strategy And Action Of The United States In The South China Sea From The Perspctive Of International Law

To ensure the global projection of American military power,To curb the damage that "excessive maritime claims" by developing countries and new maritime norms such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea(UNCLOS)may cause to their own freedom of navigation,The Freedom of Navigation Program was launched in 1979 and implemented globally to ensure freedom of navigation.The United States’ freedom of navigation strategy and operations in the South China Sea are an extension of the program.With the so-called freedom of navigation,the United States willfully infringes upon China’s maritime sovereignty and relevant legal system,and exercises "long-arm jurisdiction" over the South China Sea,which seriously infringes upon China’s national sovereignty and endangers China’s national security.How to reveal its illegal nature from the perspective of international law and effectively deal with its challenges is the central task of maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea.This paper uses literature,case studies,comparative analysis and interdisciplinary research methods to deeply analyze a series of legal issues concerning the freedom of navigation of the United States in the South China Sea,with a view to finding countermeasures and providing a strong legal guarantee for taking effective measures to safeguard China’s interests in the South China Sea.The framework of this paper consists of introduction,text and conclusion.The text is divided into five parts:The first part is an overview of the theories related to freedom of navigation.Freedom of navigation originated from the freedom of the seas proposed by Dutch jurist Grotius,which was put forward to oppose Portugal and Spain’s use of the "Pope’s Meridian" to divide the world’s oceans,and was later skillfully applied by the Netherlands to dominate the seas.Later developed by the British to serve the colonial expansion of the principle of freedom of navigation;At the end of the last century,the international community finally formed a maritime legal order represented by UNCLOS and provided for the freedom of navigation system under modern international law.Under the conditions of peace,the current international law restricts the freedom of navigation from the maritime delimitation system and the jurisdiction of ships of coastal states.In the event of armed conflict between countries,the right of blockade will also effectively restrict the freedom of navigation while applying the international custom of "free ships and free goods".The second part is the origin and background analysis of the US freedom of navigation strategy and action in the South China Sea.From the perspective of time,the United States’ insistence on freedom of navigation is not static.It has experienced the evolution from the "limited embargo and neutral trade rights" in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China to the "guarantee of force projection and maintenance of global hegemony" after World War II.In 1979,with the launch of the Carter administration’s Freedom of Navigation Program,the United States began to pursue a global strategy of Freedom of Navigation.The United States implements its freedom of navigation program through a combination of diplomatic channels,which are mostly aimed at European countries other than Russia,and military declarations,which are mostly aimed at Russia,Asian countries and developing countries.The purpose of implementing freedom of navigation strategies and operations in the world is to maintain the mobility and delivery system of the U.S.military,ensure the safety of transportation channels,and thus safeguard the core interests of the United States.Due to the huge differences in the perception of freedom of navigation with China,its huge strategic interests in the South China Sea and the need to suppress strategic competitors,the United States has focused on promoting freedom of navigation strategy in the South China Sea,carrying out freedom of navigation operations and denying China’s sovereignty claims in the South China Sea.The third part is the international law perspective of the US freedom of navigation strategy and operation in the South China Sea.In the South China Sea,the United States’ methods include frequently provoking China’s sovereignty in the South China Sea through military declarations and close-in reconnaissance,courting Allies for joint patrols and exercises,publicizing the military’s position before and after the operation by media,and denying China’s domestic laws and regulations.The international law pursued by the United States is in fact policy-oriented international law,which has obvious loopholes in jurisprudence and logical defects.The resulting freedom of navigation endangers the sovereignty and national security of coastal states,exacerbates disputes over the application and interpretation of international law,and seriously erodes the authority of international law.The fourth part,the current international law on the freedom of navigation of the defects and perfect ideas.The current international law lacks provisions on the innocent passage of warships through territorial waters and the activities of warships in exclusive economic zones.The lack of an effective dispute settlement mechanism leads to the inability to effectively resolve disputes in the South China Sea,which makes the United States intervene in the South China Sea affairs under the pretext of maintaining freedom of navigation.When improving the system of freedom of navigation in international law,it is necessary to clarify the value orientation and legal perspective,clarify the correlation between the issues of freedom of navigation,grasp the issue of freedom of navigation from the perspective of system design and order construction,and develop regional dispute settlement mechanisms to effectively resolve maritime disputes.The fifth part is the law thinking of China’s strategy and action to break up the US freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.Dock in China should take an active part in the international legislation,international law perfect domestic legal system related to the freedom of navigation,in the case of respect for international law to distinguish between different area,different situation comprehensive use different means to maintain their own rights and interests,improve the security of the south China sea cooperation mechanism,and strive for the international public opinion say beneficial to China’s sovereignty maintenance.