根据《联合国海洋法公约》第123条规定，闭海或半闭海沿岸国在行使和履行《公约》规定的权利和义务时，有互相合作之义务。南海作为典型的半闭海，沿岸国自应互相合作。同时，南海沿岸各国比邻而居，地区和平稳定对域内国家的重要意义不言而喻，正如外交部副部长刘振民在博鳌亚洲论坛发言时所强调的：“南海的和平稳定与各沿岸国的安全、发展和繁荣息息相关，与各沿岸国人民的福祉息息相关”，因此“实现南海地区的和平稳定和繁荣发展是各沿岸国的共同愿望和共同责任，符合各沿岸国的共同利益”。
近段时期以来，南海地区局势保持总体稳定，“剑拔弩张”的气氛不再，和平合作氛围日浓，为周边国家合作创造了良好环境。与此同时，我们也应积极探寻新的合作模式，助力南海合作。国际上其他地区合作的成功经验，可以为南海周边国家合作提供有益指导。笔者长期从事北极事务研究，北极国家之间的合作模式，或可为南海合作借鉴。作为战略竞争对手的美国和俄罗斯，在北极理事会内却可以开展非常良好的合作，并未受到两国在其他地区对抗的严重影响，有几个重要原因。首先，北极理事会在成立时便将传统安全等政治上敏感的议题排除在外，其工作职责被限定在推动地区可持续发展及保护环境两方面，在此后20多年的发展历程中有效地避免了部分国家将其他地区的对抗延伸至理事会内，并在环境保护和可持续发展方面取得较大成绩，受到越来越多重视；其次，美俄都具有的北极国家身份，有助于促进彼此在北极地区的相互认同，这在一定程度上使双方增信释疑，促进合作；最后，北极理事会组织架构经北极国家精心设计，仅8个作为成员国的北极国家具有表决权，域外国家及其他利益攸关者只能以观察员身份参与理事会活动，虽饱受诟病，但也实现了部分北极国家欲限制域外国家参与的目的。
《公约》规定，闭海或半闭海沿岸国应尽力直接或通过适当组织开展合作。据此，我们建议：不妨在南海地区成立类似北极理事会的合作机制（如南海和平合作理事会等），先将防灾减灾、海上搜救、保护海洋环境和海洋生物多样性、海洋科学研究、海上航行安全等政治上不太敏感的领域纳入其中，使其成为各方在这些领域加强合作的平台，随着合作的深化，再逐步外溢到其他领域；其组织架构亦可参考北极理事会，南海周边国家作为理事会正式成员，具有表决权，其他利益攸关方可作为观察员加入，但无表决权，如此，既履行了在适当情形下邀请其他有关国家或国际组织参与合作的义务，又可以尽量避免域外国家对理事会事务的肆意干涉。
参考新闻：刘振民：“稳步推进南海沿岸国合作正当其时——博鳌亚洲论坛2017年年会南海分论坛开幕”，外交部网站，2017年3月27日，http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/web/wjbxw_673019/t1448856.shtml
作者简介：董利民，厦门大学南海研究院2016级国际法学博士研究生。
Learning from Arctic Experiences for Cooperation in South China Sea
By Limin DONG, of South China Sea Institute, Xiamen University
According to Article 123 of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, States bordering an enclosed or semi-enclosed sea should cooperate with each other in the exercise of their rights and in the performance of their duties under this Convention. As a semi-enclosed sea, the bordering States should cooperate with each other. Besides, regional peace and stability are of vital importance to regional States. Just as Zhenmin LIU, Vice Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China, has said at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Meeting 2017, “Peace and stability in South China Sea is crucial for the security, development and prosperity of all coastal States and the well-beings of their peoples. It is in the shared interests of all coastal States to promote peace, stability, prosperity and development, which is also our common responsibility.
In recent period, the SCS situations overall remain stable and the atmosphere for peace and cooperation is getting momentum, which creates favorable conditions for cooperation among SCS bordering States. Meanwhile, we should proactively seek for new modes of cooperation to facilitate SCS cooperation. The successes of cooperation in other regions may serve as beneficial guidance for SCS cooperation, such as the cooperative model among the Arctic States. The U.S. and Russia, as strategic competitors, still conduct sound cooperation within the Arctic Council, without being affected by their confrontations in other regions. There are following important reasons for this.
Firstly, the Arctic Council has excluded politically sensitive topics such as traditional security since its establishment. Its missions are limited to promoting sustainable development and environmental protection in the region. Its development in the two decades has effectively avoided the expansion of confrontations among some States in other regions to the Arctic Council. The Council has made great achievements in environmental protection and sustainable development and has won growing attention. Besides, the U.S. and Russia are both Arctic States, which is beneficial to their mutual recognition in the Arctic region. It would improve their understanding, reduce doubts and enhance cooperation between them. Moreover, after the Arctic States’ exquisite design of the Arctic Council’s organizational structure, only eight Arctic States, as the member States, are entitled to voting rights. Non-regional States and other stakeholders can only participate in the Council’s activities as observers, which, though being greatly criticized, has achieved some Arctic countries’ goal to restrict participation by non-regional countries.
According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, States bordering an enclosed or semi-enclosed sea shall endeavor, directly or through an appropriate regional organization, to conduct cooperation. In this regard, we propose to build up a cooperative regime in South China Sea similar to the Arctic Council, such as SCS Council of Peace and Cooperation. Such regime would include less politically sensitive issues such as disaster prevention and reduction, marine search and rescue, marine environmental protection and biodiversity, marine scientific research, navigational security etc., so that it would serve as a platform for the cooperation among the parties in these fields. Then the cooperation would gradually extend to other fields. The Arctic Council may also serve as an example for the organizational structure of such regime. The SCS bordering States, as official members of SCS Council, enjoy the voting rights, while other stakeholders may join as observers without voting rights. In this way, the obligation to invite, as appropriate, other interested States or international organizations to cooperate with them, could be fulfilled, and the willful intervention by non-regional States into the affairs of SCS Council would be avoided.
For more information, please refer to:
http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjbxw/t1449741.shtml Liu Zhenmin: Now Is the Right Time to Launch Cooperation among South China Sea Coastal States --South China Sea Session of Boao Forum for Asia Annual Meeting 2017 Opens