The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson responded in three sentences: the first sentence "The waters of the Taiwan Strait extend from the coasts on both sides to the centerline of the strait, and in turn are China's internal waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone"; the second sentence: "China enjoys sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait, while respecting the legitimate rights of other countries in the relevant waters"; the third sentence denies the jurisprudence concept of international waters: "There is no 'international waters' in the international law of the sea at all.
"The relevant country's claim that the Taiwan Strait is 'international waters' is intended to create an excuse for it to manipulate Taiwan-related issues and threaten China's sovereignty and security. China firmly opposes this." A US State Department spokesman responded that "the Taiwan Strait is an international shipping lane and a free zone on the high seas guaranteed by international law, including freedom of navigation and overflight," and reiterated that banner design the US military will continue to pass through the Taiwan Strait. Recently, Huang Jiezheng, who will serve as the representative of the Kuomintang in the United States, said that "China's statement is not wrong" and "international waters are untenable in international law", causing a second round of disputes in Taiwan. Because the Kuomintang has just declared itself a "pro-American party", the result echoes the Chinese statement so quickly. Whether it is "pro-American" or "pro-China" is confusing.
Under the criticism from all parties, the Kuomintang issued a four-point statement to clarify its position. The Taiwan Strait is not an inland sea or inland water To analyze these disputes, we must first understand the status of the Taiwan Strait in international law. International law is not a law, it is a system of common law made up of habits formed by long-standing international practice, a collection of multilateral international treaties "cultured" based on these practices and negotiations, and a multitude of other international treaties. The same is true in the field of the law of the sea. Now discussing the law of the sea, mostly referring to the "1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea" (the Convention for short), but it cannot be ignored that there are "four major conventions of 1958" before this convention, namely the "Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone", "Convention on the High Seas", The Continental Shelf Convention, and the Convention on Fishing and Conservation of Living Resources on the High Seas.