A Study on the Related Interests and Their Balance under the South China Sea Arbitral Award

Abstract

南海仲裁判斷嘗試就沿海國於專屬經濟區與大陸礁層之主權權利與管轄權、「航行和飛越自由」、「人類共同繼承財產」與其他一般性權利和義務之間作出安排。縱然我國否認仲裁判斷對於我國具有任何法律上拘束力，但其嘗試為相關利益所做之安排，所展現之態度，所代表之意義，無法為我國所忽視。故而，我國未來之南海政策與海洋政策之形成，除了建立在我國之島嶼主權與海洋權利主張，亦應兼顧本次仲裁判斷所欲平衡之相關利益。

The South China Sea Arbitral Award intended to balance different maritime interests. Included were the sovereign rights and jurisdictions of coastal States within the regimes of Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf, freedom of navigation and overflight, common heritage of mankind, as well as other general rights and obligations provided in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS Convention). From the views of Taiwan`s interests, Taiwan has considered this Arbitral Award as having no legally binding force on it. However, when formulating its maritime policy or South China Sea policy, Taiwan still needs to take into consideration the maritime interests that the Arbitral Award intended to balance, as the South China Sea Arbitration constituted a milestone of balancing such maritime interests since the adoption and entering-into-force of the LOS Convention.