In the northeast of Shandong, there is a township-level administrative region, which is closer to Dalian than Yantai, only about 41 kilometers away.
This small island located at the junction of the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea is Beihuangcheng Island. For thousands of years, it has experienced countless storms and witnessed many historical celebrities passing by.
More importantly, its existence has made the Bohai Sea, a large area of the sea, an inland sea of the mainland.
How is this determined?
The Bohai Sea is definitely the inland sea of the mainland
"Inside" is relative to "outside", once the sea area is determined to be an inland sea, it no longer has the attributes of another country, but belongs to the territory of the country where it is located.
Within the limits of the inland sea, whether in water or airspace, the country where it is located has the same sovereignty over it as over land. The Bohai Sea is an inland sea of the mainland, which has both the basis for boundary demarcation in the modern sense and the customary demarcation method that has been formed for a long time.
This has to be traced back to ancient times.
In ancient times, due to the limitation of means of transportation, the scope of communication and activities between countries was limited. At that time, there was no universal standard for how to delimit the land and sea of a country. In other words, it is up to each country to determine how it is to be delineated.
In this way, whether the national strength is strong or not, and what the specific boundaries and territories of the country are will have a great impact on the demarcation.
For example, in the ancient Roman period, at its peak, the entire area along the Mediterranean coast was its territory. In the middle of the Mediterranean, it belonged to the high seas in the modern sense, and in Roman times, this vast sea area was the de facto territorial sea of Rome.
Back to the ancient times of the mainland, although the mainland has been a land power for a long time, it also has its own set of guidelines for the delimitation of sea areas and maritime boundaries.
According to the ancient demarcation method, the mainland basically divided the sea area into the inner ocean, the outer ocean and the ocean.
The so-called inland ocean is the area close to the land and the islands of the country, and this area is clearly regarded as its own territory, and usually the administrative area along the inland ocean is located, and the officers and soldiers of the naval division are specifically assigned to take charge of it.
Beyond the inner ocean is the outer ocean, and the definition of this sea area was marked by the island farthest from the mainland in the Qing Dynasty.
The difference with the inner ocean is that there is no administrative management in the outer oceans, and only the sailors are sent to carry out regular patrols in these sea areas in peacetime.
The area of the outer ocean then expands outward to the ocean, which was also called the deep water ocean or the black water ocean in ancient times. It is far from land and islands, which by ancient definition are beyond national borders and do not exercise effective jurisdiction. Therefore, the ocean can be understood as the current high seas.
From the above demarcation, it can be seen that although the delimitation of the ancient sea area did not demarcate the effective distance range, according to the actual controllable range, it can basically determine where the control scope of its own sea area is.
According to this principle, the Bohai Sea was the inland sea of the continent by the standards of ancient times. It is surrounded by land on three sides, and on the border with the Yellow Sea, there is a series of islands, including Beihuangcheng Island.
The islands are close to each other, stretching northeast from the Shandong Peninsula to the Liaodong Peninsula, and it is like a chain that completely tethers the Bohai Sea to the mainland land. So from ancient times to the present, no one has ever questioned the subordination of the Bohai Sea.
There is no standard, and the Pacific Ocean is your own
In modern times, the demarcation of the sea area has encountered major problems. A key factor is that the scope of inter-State exchanges has expanded, and human activities are no longer confined to one region and are beginning to operate in various parts of the globe.
The question then arises as to how to define the boundaries between countries. In particular, the Western colonizers seized a large amount of new land, and how to demarcate these lands, including the sea area, must establish a recognized standard.
Because if there is no standard, from the axiomatic level, countries will lose effective control over their borders. For example, a country along the Pacific Ocean suddenly wants to make the entire Pacific Ocean its territory.
Looking at it now, no country can do it. One is that it will cause public outrage, and the other is that the standards set do not allow it.
But in the era when there are no standards, if a country is strong, it can indeed take practical actions to take a certain sea area as its own.
It is in this context that there has been a long international debate over how to demarcate the sea area.
How did the new standard come about?
There are no coastal countries, and there is no need to worry about how many sea areas to delineate. Coastal countries, whether continental or otherwise, also have their own views on demarcation.
There were ways to delineate the history of the continent, as did the coastal states in the history of Europe. In the 16th century, the Dutch proposed that the concept of the outward extension of the sea should be established in the coastal area.
Since it is proposed that part of the sea should be administered by the coastal state in which it is located, what should be the extent of the outward extension? A Spanish king in history had the simplest way to do this—the area that could be seen by the eye.
The king of Spain, Philip II, decreed that all foreign ships could not enter the waters as far as the eye could see. This method of delimiting the extent of the sea area came to be known as the "vision theory".
In fact, as long as healthy people are not nearsighted, the range of vision is basically the same. Therefore, according to this method, the area of sea area that can be controlled by coastal states extends from land to sea about 14 nautical miles.
When Westerners began to colonize, the criteria for the extent of the sea changed again. Since the British had the most powerful fleet at that time, the new standard was first proposed by the British and gradually implemented around the world.
However, compared to 14 nautical miles, the range of the new standard has been shortened to 3 nautical miles. At first glance, many people will wonder why the delineation of the sea area that can be controlled by the country should be as large as possible, and why has it become smaller?
This is actually the way Westerners delineate in their favor. If the demarcation was too large, the fleets of Britain and other Western countries would not be able to freely sail through the world's seas and waterways, and they would not be able to approach the coastlines of other countries.
And if this range is narrowed, the fleets of the West will be able to sail unhindered, and they will be able to approach the coastlines of other countries at will.
In other words, the new criteria were determined from the point of view of the colonizers in their favour. The Westerners of that time had strong ships and guns, and they established this principle, and the great powers had a standard to follow when competing for colonies. As for other weak countries, there is no right to refuse.
The 3 nautical mile rule lasted from the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century. As the new situation continues to change, most countries feel that this standard needs to be changed.
Thus, the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea was convened in 1958. In essence, this is the first time that a standard has been developed that can be used around the world.
At the meeting, many countries put forward the criteria for delineation. The Americans suggested 6 nautical miles, and the Soviets proposed that they could be freely demarcated by coastal states in the range of 3 nautical miles to 12 nautical miles. Some countries have even proposed that the extent of the territorial sea should extend 200 nautical miles.
The meeting did not produce a definitive outcome, but the mainland then used the width of 12 nautical miles as the criterion. And from the point of view of the Bohai Sea, determining the width of 12 nautical miles will not turn it into the open sea after the emergence of new standards.
If the original 3 nautical mile standard is still followed, then the Bohai Sea will theoretically become the open sea. Even if it is increased to 6 nautical miles, whether it extends outward from the land or the islands, it will not be able to meet the requirement of turning the Bohai Sea into an inland sea.
Increasing to 12 nautical miles, the modern legal basis for the Bohai Sea as an inland sea is established. In terms of distance, the distance between Beihuangcheng Island and the west corner of Laotieshan on the Liaodong Peninsula is about 22 nautical miles.
Whether it is from the Liaodong Peninsula or from Beihuangcheng Island, it can cover a range of 22 nautical miles. In this way, together with the series of islands south of Beihuangcheng Island, the Bohai Sea is still an inland sea of the mainland on the legal basis of the delimitation of modern territorial waters.
It should be pointed out that even if there is no 12 nautical mile rule in the modern sense, according to historical practice, the Bohai Sea is an inland sea of the mainland and cannot become an open sea.
This is not only recognized by the mainland, but also by other countries in their customs. The most direct example is that at the beginning of the founding of New China, the United States drove warships and aircraft carriers to the Taiwan Strait, but the Americans did not go to the Bohai Sea.
At that time, there was no mention of a 12-nautical-mile territorial water, and the standard set by Western countries was still 3 nautical miles.
Especially after the outbreak of the Korean War, the two countries were in a de facto state of war, and the Americans had all the more reason to sail warships into the Bohai Sea, so that they could directly threaten the capital of the mainland.
But all along, Americans have not touched that line. Because the Bohai Sea has been the mainland's inland sea by default for thousands of years.
Therefore, the establishment of the 12 nautical mile principle in the modern sense is only a legal basis. The reality is that even without this legal basis, the nature of the Bohai Sea will not change.
The principle of 12 nautical miles
It was not until the 80s that the 12-nautical-mile principle was established by the United Nations Convention on the Sea. In principle, coastal states that have signed the Convention will follow this principle in delineating the maritime area.
In practice, however, the Convention is not enforceable, and coastal States that have not signed it may theoretically act in disrespect with the Convention.
But then again, there are many economic and trade exchanges between countries in modern times, and following the same rules can save you a lot of trouble. Therefore, this principle has become a convention, even if it is not mandatory.
Under the existing international framework, most countries will follow this standard. As for whether there will be any changes in the future, it is not a question for the current generation to consider.
Essentially, the delimitation of maritime areas has always changed according to the changes in time and environment.
epilogue
Back to modern times, the Bohai Sea, as an inland sea of the mainland, contains great economic value, whether it is salt ore fishery resources, or rich oil and gas resources, all belong to us.
And the Miaodao Islands at the junction of the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea also have great military significance. Like Beihuangcheng Island, as the throat to control the Bohai Strait, it has been valued by all dynasties.
Beihuangcheng Island
When the Tang Dynasty attacked Goguryeo, the Tang army turned Beihuangcheng Island into a logistics base, and established a city on the island to reserve grain, grass and ordnance.
In the modern Beihuangcheng Island, the navigation beacon lights on the lighthouse hill on the island work 24 hours a day, and a large number of domestic and foreign cargo ships shuttle through the nearby waterways, and Beihuangcheng Island has a new mission to guide ships.
As for the Bohai Sea, it is still the same as thousands of years ago, as our own sea, playing its due role and value.
Resources:
"Starting from history and culture, why is Beihuangcheng Island "splendid"?" The Paper, April 9, 2022
"How to Draw Baselines in the Territorial Sea", Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, May 4, 2009