This book selects leading, innovative and influential Chinese maritime judgments and presents full translation of them, with brief summary, to the readers so that they can have insights of how the Chinese maritime judges interpret, apply and develop Chinese maritime law in practice. China trades with other states in trillions of USD every year, and about 95% of the cargoes are carried by ocean-going ships calling at hundreds of Chinese ports each single day. Due to the enormous and steadily growing trade volume and shipping activities, foreign ships, companies and persons are often caught by the Chinese maritime law and court. The parties involved and their lawyers are more than ever enthusiastic to study Chinese maritime cases in order to deal with their own cases properly or, if possible, predict the potential problems and avoid the disputes outright. The book is appealing to and benefits worldwide law students, academics, practitioners and industrial people in the shipping, trade, insurance and financial fields. The book remedies to certain extent the situation that there is lack of authoritative sources available to foreign personnel to look into how Chinese justice system functions.

This book selects leading, innovative and influential Chinese maritime judgments and presents full translation of them, with brief summary, to the readers so that they can have insights of how the Chinese maritime judges interpret, apply and develop Chinese maritime law in practice. China trades with other states in trillions of USD every year, and about 95% of the cargoes are carried by ocean-going ships calling at hundreds of Chinese ports each single day. Due to the enormous and steadily growing trade volume and shipping activities, foreign ships, companies and persons are often caught by the Chinese maritime law and court. The parties involved and their lawyers are more than ever enthusiastic to study Chinese maritime cases in order to deal with their own cases properly or, if possible, predict the potential problems and avoid the disputes outright. The book is appealing to and benefits worldwide law students, academics, practitioners and industrial people in the shipping, trade, insurance and financial fields. The book remedies to certain extent the situation that there is lack of authoritative sources available to foreign personnel to look into how Chinese justice system functions.

In modern history, China has been primarily a land power, dominating smaller states along its massive continental flanks. But China’s turn toward the sea is now very much a reality, as evident in its stunning rise in global shipbuilding markets, its vast and expanding merchant marine, the wide offshore reach of its energy and minerals exploration companies, its growing fishing fleet, and indeed its increasingly modern navy. Yet, for all these achievements, there is still profound skepticism regarding China’s potential as a genuine maritime power. Beijing must still import the most vital subcomponents for its shipyards, maritime governance remains severely bureaucratically challenged, and the navy evinces, at least as of yet, little enthusiasm for significant blue water power projection capabilities. This volume provides a truly comprehensive assessment of prospects for China’s maritime development by situating these important geostrategic phenomena within a larger world historical context. China is hardly the only land power in history to attempt transformation by fostering sea power. Many continental powers have elected or been impelled to transform themselves into significant maritime powers in order to safeguard their strategic position or advance their interests. We examine cases of attempted transformation from the Persian Empire to the Soviet Union, and determine the reasons for their success or failure. Too many works on China view the nation in isolation. Of course, China’s history and culture are to some extent exceptional, but building intellectual fences actually hinders the effort to understand China’s current development trajectory. Without underestimating the enduring pull of China’s past as it relates to threats to the country’s internal stability and its landward borders, this comparative study provides reason to believe that China has turned the corner on a genuine maritime transformation. If that proves indeed to be the case, it would be a remarkable if not singular event in the history of the last two millennia.

Since 1949 and the founding of the People's Republic, China has been involved in more than one territorial dispute with its neighbours. Currently the most unstable and dangerous dispute is the one over the Paracel and Spratly islands in the South China Sea. With their potentially rich and accessible petroleum resources, these islands have become the new arena of conflict for the 1970s and 1980s, China having already fought a war with South Vietnam over the Paracel Islands. This book, based on a wealth of primary materials in the Chinese language, is the first to make a thorough and overall investigation of China's policy towards these islands. It deals with the battle for the Paracels, the dispute with Vietnam, the disputes with the Philippines and Malaysia, and the relationship between the territorial disputes and China's maritime claims in the South China Sea.

Rock Solid: How the Philippines Won Its Maritime Case Against China presents a comprehensive account of the epic legal success of the Philippines' territorial claim over that of China. The arbitral ruling is paramount to the protection of Philippine sovereignty and territorial integrity. Readers will appreciate the unpacking of the complex nature of Philippine national interest, stretching from fishery and natural resources to security concerns and territorial integrity of the nation.

The Chinese maritime and shipping market has been expanding enormously in recent times as its commercial capacity to perform shipping, ship building, banking and insurance activities grows and the role of the State as guarantor of commerce is gradually reduced. This book provides a detailed guide to current Chinese maritime law, written by an expert team of contributors and systematically covering key areas such as carriage of goods by sea, international trade, vessels and seafarers and maritime liabilities. The authors explore cutting-edge issues within each topic, and analyse current trends in law reform. The book will be of interest to academics researching commercial and maritime law, as well as maritime law practitioners and shipping industry professionals working with aspects of Chinese maritime practice.

Xi Jinping has made his ambitions for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) perfectly clear, there is no mystery what he wants, first, that China should become a "great maritime power" and secondly, that the PLA "become a world-class armed force by 2050." He wants this latter objective to be largely completed by 2035. China as a Twenty-First-Century Naval Power focuses on China's navy and how it is being transformed to satisfy the "world class" goal. Beginning with an exploration of why China is seeking to become such a major maritime power, author Michael McDevitt first explores the strategic rationale behind Xi's two objectives. China's reliance on foreign trade and overseas interests such as China's Belt and Road strategy. In turn this has created concerns within the senior levels of China's military about the vulnerability of its overseas interests and maritime life-lines. is a major theme. McDevitt dubs this China's "sea lane anxiety" and traces how this has required the PLA Navy to evolve from a "near seas"-focused navy to one that has global reach; a "blue water navy." He details how quickly this transformation has taken place, thanks to a patient step-by-step approach and abundant funding. The more than 10 years of anti-piracy patrols in the far reaches of the Indian Ocean has acted as a learning curve accelerator to "blue water" status. McDevitt then explores the PLA Navy's role in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. He provides a detailed assessment of what the PLAN will be expected to do if Beijing chooses to attack Taiwan potentially triggering combat with America's "first responders" in East Asia, especially the U.S. Seventh Fleet and U.S. Fifth Air Force. He conducts a close exploration of how the PLA Navy fits into China's campaign plan aimed at keeping reinforcing U.S. forces at arm's length (what the Pentagon calls anti-access and area denial [A2/AD]) if war has broken out over Taiwan, or because of attacks on U.S. allies and friends that live in the shadow of China. McDevitt does not know how Xi defines "world class" but the evidence from the past 15 years of building a blue water force has already made the PLA Navy the second largest globally capable navy in the world. This book concludes with a forecast of what Xi's vision of a "world-class navy" might look like in the next fifteen years when the 2035 deadline is reached.

Using the concept of boundaries, physical and cultural, to understand the development of China’s maritime southeast in late Imperial times, and its interactions across maritime East Asia and the broader Asian Seas, these linked essays by a senior scholar in the field challenge the usual readings of Chinese history from the centre. After an opening essay which positions China’s southeastern coast within a broader view of maritime Asia, the first section of the book looks at boundaries, between “us” and “them”, Chinese and other, during this period. The second section looks at the challenges to such rigid demarcations posed by the state and existed in the status quo. The third section discusses movements of people, goods and ideas across national borders and cultural boundaries, seeing tradition and innovation as two contesting forces in a constant state of interaction, compromise and reconciliation. This approach underpins a fresh understanding of China’s boundaries and the distinctions that separate China from the rest of the world. In developing this theme, Ng Chin-keong draws on many years of writing and research in Chinese and European archives. Of interest to students of migration, of Chinese history, and of the long term perspective on relations between China and its region, Ng’s analysis provides a crucial background to the historical shared experience of the people in Asian maritime zones. The result is a novel way of approaching Chinese history, argued from the perspective of a fresh understanding of China’s relations with neighbouring territories and the populations residing there, and of the nature of tradition and its persistence in the face of changing circumstances.

In the past decade, tensions in Asia have risen as Beijing has become more assertive in maritime disputes with its neighbors and the United States. Although taking place below the threshold of direct military confrontation, China’s assertiveness frequently involves coercive elements that put at risk existing rules and norms; physical control of disputed waters and territory; and the credibility of U.S. security commitments. Regional leaders have expressed increasing alarm that such “gray zone” coercion threatens to destabilize the region by increasing the risk of conflict and undermining the rules-based order. Yet, the United States and its allies and partners have struggled to develop effective counters to China’s maritime coercion. This study reviews deterrence literature and nine case studies of coercion to develop recommendations for how the United States and its allies and partners could counter gray zone activity.