I saw an article about China and its claims over the entire South China Sea and ensuing aggression despite some legal ruling that it is international waters. What organization gets to rule on these matters for the world?
You don’t really see the boundaries for example on Google Maps of the borders of the country in the water that they might consider their own territory. They exist anyway and the respective countries have regular patrols of what they understand to be their waters. I think the term, ‘economic zone’, was used also in the article to define the boundary in the water. What does that mean? Thank you in advance for your time.
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There is a broad general consensus embodied in the UNCLOS (UN convention on the law of the seas)
Generally speaking 12 miles from the coast is the “territorial waters” of the country and 200 miles from the coast is the “exclusive economic zone”. So ships not allowed to enter within the 12 mile zone without violating borders but allowed to pass within the 200 mile zone as long as they do not undertake economic activity (fishing, oil exploration etc)
For narrow bodies of water, the broad rule is to “split the difference” although the countries involved can negotiate their own agreements.
For countries that share a coast, the line is normally drawn about 90 degrees from the coast line ie “your side and my side”.
The most problematic in some areas are outlying islands. What counts as an island (and therefore has the 12 mile and 200 mile EEZ) can be disputed. Who does the island belong to when it is uninhabited? etc etc.
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