Documents related to the line of territorial waters, baselines of territorial seas

The baselines of the territorial sea are "the coastal low tide lines indicated by large-scale charts officially recognized by the coastal State". However, "where the coast is extremely tortuous, or if there is a series of islands immediately adjacent to the coast, the baselines for measuring the width of the territorial sea may be delineated using the straight baseline method connecting the appropriate points". The straight baseline method is to select a series of base points on the outward protrusion of the shore and some islands close to the coast, and the base points are connected in turn, and the straight lines between the points are connected to form a broken line along the coast.

There is a development process regarding the outward width of the baseline. In the 18th century, the distance that could be reached by coastal artillery was limited. At that time, the range of the cannon was about 3 nautical miles (, so it was accepted by the maritime powers of the time.

Later, due to the increase in the range of the artillery, countries expanded their territorial waters to km or more, but the majority adopted 22km. By 1972, Peru and other countries in South America took the lead in extending their territorial waters to the first part of the Third Conference on the Law of the Sea in order to protect their coastal fishery resources. After nine years of painstaking negotiations, the new Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was adopted on 30 April 1982 at the eleventh part of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.

The Convention, adopted on the basis of consultations and on the basis of the views of a majority of States, provides that "each State shall have the right to determine the width of its territorial sea up to the limit of not exceeding 12 nautical miles from the baselines established in accordance with this Convention". "But some Latin American countries still insist on 370 km and have not signed the convention. With regard to the outer limit of the territorial sea, it is "a line on which the distance between each point and the nearest point of the baseline is equal to the width of the territorial sea".

Baselines of the territorial sea refer to the starting line from which the coastal State delineates the outer limits of its territorial sea. The territorial sea is the territorial sea when a certain width is drawn outward along this line. In international practice, there are two types of baselines in the territorial sea:

One is the low tide line, which is the coastline where the sea retreats furthest at low tide, known as the normal baseline. The other is a straight baseline, that is, on the mainland shore and on the islands along the outer edge of the coast select appropriate points as the base point, and then connect the adjacent base points with straight lines, and the baseline formed by this series of straight lines is a straight baseline. From this straight baseline, a certain width of the sea is drawn outwards to form the territorial sea.

The sea area between the straight baseline and the land is internal water. This is suitable for places where the coastline is extremely winding, or where there is a series of islands immediately off the coast.

The baselines of the territorial sea are the starting point for measuring the territorial sea of the coastal State. It is usually the high tide and low tide line of coastal countries. However, in some places where the coastline is tortuous, or where there is a series of islands near the coast, it is permissible to use the method of dividing the baselines in a straight line, i.e., to identify appropriate points on each coast or island, to connect these points in a straight line (these points are called the base points of the territorial sea), and to delineate the baselines.

An archipelagic State may establish a straight archipelagic baselines in such a manner as they connect the outermost islands of the archipelago and the outermost points of the atolls, provided that the ratio of water area to land area, including atolls, shall be between one to nine to one, and the length of the baselines shall not exceed 100 nautical miles, and up to 3 per cent of the total baselines surrounding any archipelago may exceed that length, but the maximum shall be 125 nautical miles. In addition, straight baselines must not deviate significantly from the general orientation of the coast and must not block the territorial sea of another State from the exclusive economic zone or the high seas.

The brief is the line separating the territorial land or internal waters of a country from the territorial sea, and it is also the starting line for the division of other maritime areas in the law of the sea. There can be two kinds of delineation:

1.A normal baseline, or natural baseline, is a baseline at low tide when the sea recedes to the farthest tide line from the coast, that is, the low tide line, and is also the natural boundary between the territorial land and the sea.

2.A straight baseline is a polyline formed by selecting a number of appropriate base points at the outermost edge of a coastal or offshore island, and using a straight line as the baseline.

On May 15, 1996, China officially promulgated the statement on the baselines of China's territorial waters. In accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone of February 25, 1992, the People's Republic of China** declared that the baselines of China's territorial sea are composed of two parts: First, the baselines of the continental territorial sea are the straight lines between the base points of each phase between the high angle of Shandong and the corner of the steep cliff.

Second, the baselines of the territorial sea of the Xisha Islands are a straight line between the adjacent base points between the East Island and the South Island. Our country will also announce the baselines of the remaining territorial waters.