Asia and UNCLOS: Progress, Practice, and Problems

Abstract

This chapter begins by highlighting the progress which Asian States have made in ratifying or acceding to the Convention. Indonesia and Malaysia referred their dispute over two islands, Sipadan and Ligitan, to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Malaysia referred a dispute with Singapore to arbitration, under Annex VII of the Convention and, subsequently, applied to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) for provisional measures. The chapter then focuses on some aspects of State practice in Asia which are troublesome and, arguably, not consistent with the Convention. Finally, the chapter reviews some of the current problems in Asia relating to the law of the sea and United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). There is a long-standing but dormant dispute between Japan and Russia over the Kurile Islands, aka the Northern Territories. Keywords: Asian states; international court of justice (ICJ); ITLOS; UNCLOS