Some geopolitical implications of UNCLOS III - continental shelf problems ( southeast Asia).

Abstract

Following a review of the claims made by states over their adjacent seas and continental shelf, the implications of implementing the proposals under discussion in the UNCLOS III Sessions are examined for southeast Asia. Because its size gives it access to a relatively small area of sea, Singapore becomes a 'geographically disadvantaged' or shelf-locked state. The Gulf of Thailand is subject to dispute in the north between Kampuchea and Thailand, in the south between Kampuchea and Vietnam and in the centre between all three countries. There is also a protracted dispute over territorial rights in the South China Sea between Indonesia and Vietnam, the former adopting the 'archipelagic' principle in determining its boundaries and the latter preferring the 'thalweg' principle. Now that frontier zones on land have largely disappeared, the seas have become the frontier zones of the world. -R.P.C.Morgan