Disputed Waters, Contested Norms: Framing Discourses on the South China Sea Disputes

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea (SCS) have recently attracted serious attention from policy makers and scholars alike, raising important questions about the role of international law. The four volumes reviewed here bring a range of existing and new perspectives to bear upon the debates surrounding tensions in the SCS. First, Power Politics in Asia’s Contested Waters mostly focuses on state actors and their interactions regarding the SCS disputes. Second, Major Law and Policy Issues in the South China Sea and, third, UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the South China Sea go beyond the state level of analysis and bring international legal regimes and rules to our attention, and relate them to states’ practices. Last, The South China Sea Maritime Dispute seeks to combine various levels of analysis in order to situate the SCS disputes within the political, legal, and regional dynamics. The various contributors further extend their research by suggesting practical solutions, including promoting regional common heritage, the Spitsbergen model, and the shared sovereignty model. The books under review are not only highly pertinent to the current debate on the SCS disputes, but also suggest multiple levels and frames of analysis, as well as proposing some innovative solutions to this thorny problem.

争端的水域，纷争的规范： 南中国海争端的话语框架建构

关键词：南中国海，海事纠纷，主权，联合国海洋法公约，中国。

近来，南中国海的领土争端吸引了决策者和学者们的高度关注，提出了关于国际法的角色的重要问题。本文评阅的四部专著带来了与围绕南中国海的紧张局势进行的争论有关的一系列已有的和新的视角。首先，《亚洲争议水域中的权力政治》一书主要集中考察国家行动者及他们就南中国海问题进行的互动；第二部《南中国海的重大法律和政治问题》以及第三本专著《联合国海洋法公约和南中国海》则超越了国家层面的分析，引入了国际法律机制和规则以观照各国的实践；最后，《南中国海海事纠纷》试图将各个层面的分析结合在一起，将南中国海争端置于政治、法律以及地区的动态结构中加以考察。各位作者还进一步扩展他们的研究，提出了实际的解决方案，包括推广地区性的共同遗产、斯皮尔茨卑尔根模型以及共享主权模式。本文点评诸著作不仅皆与当下南中国海争端的争议高度相关，而且还提出多种分析的层次和框架，并为这一棘手问题提出了不少创新型的解决方案。