JEAIL > Volume 8(1); 2015 > Notes & Comments
Research Paper
Published online: May 30, 2015
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14330/jeail.2015.8.1.07

Dispute over the Applicable Scope of the Svalbard Treaty: A Chinese Lawyer's Perspective

Tianbao Qin
Wuhan University School of Law
Luojiashan, Wuchang District, Wuhan, Hubei Province, 430072, China
Corresponding Author: fxyqtb@whu.edu.cn

ⓒ Copyright YIJUN Institute of International Law
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The Svalbard Treaty, one of the few inter-governmental treaties in the Arctic area, has drawn global attention. Currently, the dispute focuses mainly on its scope of applicability. Different interpretations of the issue, directly affect each contracting party's interests in Svalbard, intensifying its debate. China signed the Svalbard Treaty on July 1, 1925, becoming one of its first contracting parties. China has attached great importance to non-discriminatory rights under the treaty, such as scientific research, resource exploitation, fishing, hunting and commercial activities, etc. Therefore, the final determination of the treaty's applicable scope has a profoundly direct impact on China's interests in the Arctic area. This research is to analyze the Chinese position on the Svalbard Treaty and to demonstrate the legitimacy of China's viewpoint from a treaty interpretation perspective.

Keywords : Svalbard Treaty, Artic Ocean, Applicable Scope, Treaty Interpretation, Intertemporal Law, terra nullius, China

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