Why can't experts see that the nine-segment line in the South China Sea is a national border?

Whether it is a "nine-segment line" or a "ten-segment line", these are trivial matters. The key question is: What are the nature and legal significance of these discontinuous lines? Because this is related to how to look at the islands and oceans surrounded by these intermittent lines. However, the government has never given a formal statement about this, which makes the academic community have to study this issue. At present, there are various opinions in academic circles, which can be summarized as: island ownership line, island reef ownership line, historic waters, historic rights, traditional coastline and archipelagic waters. There are also some people who claim that this is the dividing line between the sea and the border, but they have not given convincing evidence.

These different views on the "nine-segment line" give the island surrounded by it a completely different meaning from the sea area. The meaning of "island ownership line" is that the islands within the line belong to China. The island has territorial waters, but outside the territorial waters are high seas, which is actually equivalent to saying that part of the sea area within the "Nine-Segment Line" is high seas. This statement still has a big loophole. According to the definition of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, "island" refers to a naturally formed land area surrounded by water and exposed at high tide. But everyone who has been to the South China Sea knows that Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha Islands are mostly underwater coral reefs at high tide, and the whole zhongsha islands is basically underwater even at low tide. Therefore, this statement will not only lose a large area of the "nine-segment line" and its related rights, but also lose a large number of underwater coral reefs.

The "island reef attribution line" is slightly better, because "reef" includes submerged "submerged reef" and "shoal".

The three statements of "historic waters", "historic rights" and "traditional coastline" are basically the same, all of which emphasize that this water area was first discovered, utilized and managed by China people, and these situations have continued to this day, with the acquiescence of neighboring countries. They get more rights than the "island ownership line" or "island reef ownership line": the high seas are cancelled, and the rights cover all kinds of underwater coral reefs, but this right is more inclined to the traditional fishing rights.

The expression of "archipelagic waters" fully conforms to the definition of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Xisha and Nansha Islands are regarded as "archipelagic waters", and the territorial sea base points are selected to connect the base points and draw the territorial sea baseline. The archipelagic waters surrounded by the baseline are internal waters, and there may be territorial waters and an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles outside. However, the problems brought by this statement outweigh the benefits: First, zhongsha islands, which is completely submerged under water, cannot form "archipelagic waters"; Moreover, the distance between the islands and reefs in the Nansha Islands is far away, and it is difficult to form "archipelagic waters".

The last statement is "the boundary between the sea and the world". This statement is the strongest claim to sovereignty. It means that the islands and sea areas surrounded by the "Nine-dash Line" belong to the territory of China just like the land surrounded by the land boundary. China has full rights over the island, the seabed and its waters. Because it is a sea, the national boundary is drawn as a discontinuous line, which means that ships from other countries are allowed to pass through and lay submarine cables.

We can rank the above statements from high to low and from more to less according to the strength of China's claim to sovereignty and the number of rights obtained. The results are as follows: 1, the boundary between sea and boundary; 2. Historic waters (historic rights, traditional coastline); 3. Archipelago waters; 4. Island reef ownership line; 5. Island ownership line.

Obviously, regarding the "nine-dash line" as the "maritime boundary" is the most favorable explanation for China, which is the research conclusion of Wang Ying and her team.