The Chinese maritime and shipping market has been expanding enormously in recent times as its commercial capacity to perform shipping, ship building, banking and insurance activities grows and the role of the State as guarantor of commerce is gradually reduced. This book provides a detailed guide to current Chinese maritime law, written by an expert team of contributors and systematically covering key areas such as carriage of goods by sea, international trade, vessels and seafarers and maritime liabilities. The authors explore cutting-edge issues within each topic, and analyse current trends in law reform. The book will be of interest to academics researching commercial and maritime law, as well as maritime law practitioners and shipping industry professionals working with aspects of Chinese maritime practice.

A comprehensive treatment of Chinese maritime law and judicial practice, this book covers both substantive law and procedure law of maritime law in mainland China. This is a professional book for both academics and practitioners in the field of maritime law. Including analysis of and comment on judicial practice from the Supreme People’s Court, Higher People’s Courts and ten maritime courts, as well as a whitepaper of Chinese maritime adjudication for 30 years (1984-2014), this brings to an English-speaking audience for the first time some of the most technical aspects of maritime law. It is therefore an invaluable resource for all those interested in maritime law in China.

An in-depth examination of the law and geopolitics of China’s maritime disputes and their implications for the rules of the international law of the sea China’s Law of the Sea is the first comprehensive study of the law and geopolitics of China’s maritime disputes. It provides a rigorous empirical account of whether and how China is changing “the rules” of international order—specifically, the international law of the sea. Conflicts over specific rules lie at the heart of the disputes, which are about much more than sovereignty over islands and rocks in the South and East China Seas. Instead, the main contests concern the strategic maritime space associated with those islands. To consolidate control over this vital maritime space, China’s leaders have begun to implement “China’s law of the sea”: building domestic legal institutions, bureaucratic organizations, and a naval and maritime law enforcement apparatus to establish China’s preferred maritime rules on the water and in the diplomatic arena. Isaac B. Kardon examines China’s laws and policies to defend, exploit, study, administer, surveil, and patrol disputed waters. He also considers other claimants’ reactions to these Chinese practices, because other states must acquiesce for China’s preferences to become international rules. China’s maritime disputes offer unique insights into the nature and scope of China’s challenge to international order.

The Chinese maritime and shipping market has been expanding enormously in recent times as its commercial capacity to perform shipping, ship building, banking and insurance activities grows and the role of the State as guarantor of commerce is gradually reduced. This book provides a detailed guide to current Chinese maritime law, written by an expert team of contributors and systematically covering key areas such as carriage of goods by sea, international trade, vessels and seafarers and maritime liabilities. The authors explore cutting-edge issues within each topic, and analyse current trends in law reform. The book will be of interest to academics researching commercial and maritime law, as well as maritime law practitioners and shipping industry professionals working with aspects of Chinese maritime practice.

On 11 November 2001,the People’s Republic of China officially became a member of the World Trade Organisation. During the preceding two decades China emerged as a major trading and maritime nation, has adopted more than twenty maritime related laws and has ratified most of the important international maritime conventions. Maritime Law and Policy in China contains new translations of all the major maritime laws of the People’s Republic of China together with detailed explanations of the rationale behind the legislation. A comprehensive examination of the Maritime Code 1992 is included as is a new translation of the Maritime Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China 1999, which lays down the jurisdiction of the maritime courts in China and provides for matters such as arrest of ships, orders for security and maritime injunctions. China’s ratification of the international maritime conventions is also examined in detail. This title will be an indispensable reference work for maritime lawyers, marine insurers, P I Clubs, shipping companies and all trading companies conducting business with China.

Over the last few decades there has been growing recognition of the importance of a peaceful and stable South China Sea for Indo-Pacific security and development, a recognition that has been underlain, paradoxically, by the increasingly precarious situation in this body of water that straddles critical shipping lanes from the Indian to the Pacific Ocean. This book informs its readership of the most recent developments in the South China Sea with insightful and prescient analyses from both legal and international relations perspectives. It delves into the policy perspectives and deliberations of the various relevant regional and extra-regional actors in the South China Sea dispute, the exercise of international law in the context of the changing regional political landscape, and the promise and pitfalls of past, current, and potential initiatives to manage and settle the dispute. Written by some of the most well-known scholars and knowledgeable insiders in the fields South China Sea studies, the collection offers a wide array of diverse views that should help enrich the ongoing global discussion on conflict management and resolution in the South China Sea.

This book project evaluates the applicability and effectiveness of UNCLOS as a settlement mechanism for addressing ocean disputes. Focus is placed on the South China Sea (SCS) dispute, one of the most complex and challenging ocean-related conflicts in the world. The book considers the internal coherence of the Law of the Sea Convention regime and its dispute settlement procedures. It looks at the participation in the UNCLOS negotiation, maritime legislation, and dispute settlement practice of relevant States party to the dispute. The book goes on to explore the relationship between UNCLOS and other regimes and institutions in general in the SCS, particularly in regard to maritime security, marine environment protection, oil and gas joint development and political interaction.