Feasibility Analysis Of China’s Accession To The Convention On The Protection Of Underwater Cultural Heritage

Underwater cultural heritage plays an irreplaceable role in safeguarding national sovereignty and exploring the development history of human society.As early as 1989,China issued the Regulations on the Protection and Management of Underwater Cultural Relics to regulate the underwater cultural relics within China’s jurisdiction.However,it was not until 2001 that the international Convention for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage was adopted to advocate the participation of all countries in order to introduce international protection practices to them.Underwater cultural heritage has attracted the attention of many illegal thieves in practice because of its great economic value,and more and more underwater cultural heritage has been damaged.The provisions of domestic regulations was revised in 1989 and 2011 are not enough to deal with the destruction of underwater cultural heritage in the new situation.Moreover,underwater cultural heritage,as the spiritual wealth of all mankind,cannot be protected in all aspects by domestic laws alone.According to the Convention for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage,which entered into force in 2009,a small number of domestic scholars discussed whether China should join the Convention,but an accurate conclusion has not been reached so far.In April 2022,the Regulations were revised again to come into force,so in this context,whether China should join the Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage.This paper first sorts out the development process of underwater cultural heritage protection,then analyzes the measures taken to protect and preserve underwater cultural heritage,and notes that the destruction of underwater cultural heritage in China is extremely serious.For example,private mining,professional technology and limited problems,the unclear definition of the concept of underwater cultural heritage and the lack of publicpublicity and education,these shortcomings make China feel willing but unable to protect the underwater cultural heritage.Therefore,this paper focuses on the Convention for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage,which specifies underwater cultural heritage,comparative analysis with national regulations for the protection and management of underwater cultural heritage.The similarities between the two are analyzed in terms of protection purpose,protection principle,reporting notification system,and the differences are analyzed in terms of legal responsibility,ownership and definition of underwater cultural heritage.On this basis,explore the possibility of acceding to the Convention for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage,finally think about our country after joining the protection of underwater cultural heritage convention brings the advantages and disadvantages,thus concluded that our country in joining the convention on the protection of underwater cultural heritage will do more advantages than disadvantages,measures should be taken to prepare for the next step to join the convention of underwater cultural heritage protection.