Journal of East Asia & International Law

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• Sea-Level Rise and the Law of the Sea in the Western Pacific Region

  Sea-level rise (SLR) is considered one of the most serious consequences of climate change. The risk of SLR compels legal consideration of this phenomenon related to many interrelated domains including the Law of the Sea. The Western Pacific region contains the most low-lying coastal countries and small island States seriously affected by SLR in the world. This research has been carried out as a contribution paper on the State practice in the Western Pacific region to the topic of "Sea-level rise in relation to international law" conducted by the Study Group of the United Nations International Law Commission in the period of 2020-2021. It aims to summarize the consequences of SLR for the Western Pacific States and outline their legal positions in relation to the sea-level rise. It also discusses specific issues, challenges and opportunities facing the Western Pacific States in supporting the maintenance of maritime baselines and limits notwithstanding physical changes caused by SLR.

• Sinking or Not? An Indonesian Approach to Prevent the Rise of Sea Levels due to Global Warming

  Global warming, or climate change, could be the main reason why small islands in many areas of the Earth, including those in Indonesian territory, are sinking. Many small Indonesian islands are between 1 and 3 metres under the surface of the sea because of raised sea levels caused by climate change. If this situation continues, it would affect many of the outermost islands of Indonesia, so that we should anticipate the danger that the outermost islands would be submerged. The basepoints and archipelagic baselines would then be replaced, among other serious consequences for Indonesia. The Paris Climate Agreement, signed by almost 200 states in 2015, is the main instrument for mitigating global warming through reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. Indonesia ratified the Paris Climate Agreement, because it has a great interest in mitigating the phenomenon that is causing the sea level to rise, which is having a serious impact on its islands.

• Liberal or Constrained? Judicial Incorporations of Other Rules of International Law in the UNCLOS and the Application of the 'Genuine Link Test

  The UNCLOS regulates complex balance of rights and duties among State parties. Its text was deliberately left vague as a result of compromise between the negotiating parties. To develop the legal norms, judges and arbitrators have referred to other rules of international law through systematic integration, rules of reference, and broad applicable law. However, judicial practice has expanded subject-matter jurisdiction beyond the UNCLOS, causing antinomy between Articles 288, on jurisdiction, and 293 of UNCLOS, on applicable law. Part XV of the UNCLOS has created an invisible community that would ideally lead the UNCLOS Tribunals to develop and follow a pragmatic approach as to the limits of their subject-matter jurisdiction in order to provide for judicial coherence. When interpreting the treaty, the establishment of genuine links between disputes and substantive rules under the UNCLOS is necessary, by which other rules of international law are firmly anchored to the interpreted texts under the UNCLOS.

• Toward a New Salvage Regime for Environment: Reformation of the International Convention on Salvage 1989 and Thailand's Implementation

  The Salvage Convention 1989 establishes the main international legal framework dealing with salvage operations and environmental protection. It is the result of many years of drafting and diplomatic efforts where the treaty was negotiated and concluded. It is undeniable that the Salvage Convention 1989 has encouraged private sector and public authorities to establish and maintain the resources needed to contain ecological damage. This was an important accomplishment. Providing adequate incentives for rapid salvage operation adds to the traditional rewards. Nevertheless, the problems of updating the provisions of the Salvage Convention 1989 need to be addressed and the path ahead is still long and winding. In particular, the importance of environmental considerations is increasingly significant. As a result, modern salvage operations must also take into account measures to prevent damage to the environment. Today’s international community is searching for a new salvage regime and law. This paper examines the possibility of building the new salvage regime and its implementation in Thailand.

• From Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 to Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019: The Evolution of the US's Hong Kong Policy in the Context of the Rise of China

  The US has huge interests in Hong Kong. In 1992, a few years before China resumed its sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, the US adopted the U.S.-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992. The keynote of the Act is to enhance the cooperation with and maintain the treatment to Hong Kong. This tune has changed in the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, which is obviously the response of the US to widespread protests in Hong Kong arising from the Extradition Bill proposed by the Government of Hong Kong SAR. The new law includes several negative elements. It marks a change in the US policy towards Hong Kong and furthermore represents a change in the US policy towards China. The new law should not merely be understood as the US’s support for democracy and human rights in Hong Kong. Instead, it should be considered as a major leverage which the US may maneuver to engage a rising China.

• WTO Adjudication@ me.too: Are Global Public Goods like the World Trade Organization Owned by Governments or by Peoples and Citizens?

  As the most frequent and most successful user of the dispute settlement system of the WTO, the US has welcomed judicial clarifications by WTO dispute settlement bodies whenever they confirmed legal claims of the US. Yet, the Trump administration increasingly rejects judicial findings against the US trade restrictions as violating the WTO prohibitions of "add(ing) to or diminish(ing) the rights and obligations provided in the covered agreements." This contribution criticizes the illegal US ‘blocking’ of the WTO Appellate Body and the underlying, hegemonic nationalism and protectionist interest group politics. It suggests that reasonable and responsible citizens benefitting from the WTO trading, legal and dispute settlement systems must resist illegal power politics, for instance, by supporting a WTO Adjudicationme.too "enlightenment campaign" pressuring democratic institutions and governments to protect rule of law and judicial remedies in international trade as prescribed by parliaments when they approved the WTO Agreement.

• Theoretical Territoriality Paradox for the Intellectual Property Protection in Outer Space and Its Regulatory Approach for Reconciliation

  The sustainable development of outer space demands the protection of intellectual property in outer space. However, it worth noting that the intellectual property international treaties have not explicitly regulated in their provisions the issue of intellectual property protection in outer space, neither the provisions of the five outer space treaties explicitly address the legal issue. One suspicious rationale resulting in this legal status is the theoretical territoriality paradox between the legal regimes of outer space and intellectual property. This article aims to unveil the theoretical territoriality paradox by comparing the two legal regimes of outer space and intellectual property. It then moves to argue that the paradox is proved to be a theoretical problem since the legal value of Article VIII of the Outer Space Treaty elaborately reconcile the theoretical paradox and practically provides a self-contained mechanism that would permit guaranteed levels of intellectual property rights protection in outer space.

• A Generic Construction of the Right System for Population Ageing: Draft Convention on the Rights of the Elderly

  Although there are many international treaties and conventions offering protection for generic human rights that implicitly refer to older persons, these relevant provisions are scattered, porous and lack of practical operability, which fail to provide explicit, tailored, comprehensive and binding protection to older persons. In addition, there are some soft law provisions that guide the application of law and add to the overall protection of older people. However none of the documents contains legally binding obligations. Therefore, the protection of the rights of the elderly must be formulated as the "hard law" which defines the responsibilities of the state and clarifies the implementation mechanism at the international and domestic level. In other words, a legal system ought to be established to comprehensively protect the rights of the elderly, which is just the Convention on the Rights of the Elderly. This article attempts to present a proposal to create the right system of the Convention, which represents the core of this potential international treaty.

• The Role of OPEC in Reducing Oil Prices under International Law: The 2014 Downfall and Today's Relevance

  Fluctuation in the price of oil has been an international concern for decades, because oil is the primary export and main economic driver for many States. OPEC as an international organization is practicing its role in controlling oil prices and oil market under the rules and norms of international law. In 2014, the price of oil decreased tremendously in a way that shocked the international market. OPEC tried to stem the losses and prevent prices from falling even further, and tried to facilitate international law in the current crisis. World markets were further shocked when OPEC announced that it would not cut production, and that the market would be supplied by the usual average amount of oil exports. In contrast, WTO cut its global trade in an attempt to shore up prices in the international markets, since low oil prices affected international trade as well. In this article, I analyze the oil crisis that hit the world from 2014 to the early year of 2016 period, and the role of international organizations such as OPEC and WTO in facing international economic crises, as well as the role of international politics to assure the implementation of law.

• Reasonable Restrictions on Freedom of High Seas by 'Marine Protected Areas on the High Seas': An Empirical Research

  The UN member states have been consulting on the establishment of high seas MPAs under the BBNJ Agreement since December 2017.This issue brings about the potential conflicts between the jurisdiction of the high seas MPAs and the traditional freedom of the high seas. Although it is generally accepted that the freedom of the high seas can be reasonably restricted, it is acknowledged that there are great controversies among States on the specific forms, approaches and applicable scopes of the restrictions of the high seas freedoms by the high seas MPAs. At present, there are four recognized high seas MPAs in the world. The practice of these four MPAs contributes positively to the interpretation of the reasonable restrictions on the freedom of the high seas. Accordingly, this paper concludes that the international community should gradually carry forward future restrictions on the freedom of the high seas with some suggestions. Keywords: High Seas Marine Protected Areas, Freedom of the High Seas, Reasonable Restrictions, Positivist Analysis

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