China's Position on the Law of the Sea : With Special Reference to Offshore Oil Development

Abstract

Offshore oil development in the China seas has to be seen from the perspective of the overall oil situation in the coastal states involved, namely, China, Japan, North and South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. With the exception of China and Indonesia, which produce oil in great quantities and exports a fair amount of it, these countries are heavily or totally dependent on foreign sources to meet their demand for oil. For instance, Japan-one of the wordl's largest oil consumers-imports nearly 100 percent of its crude oil, its own domestic supply scarcely reaching half a percent of the total demand which exceeds 250 million tons a year.