Straight baselines around insular formations not constituting an archipelagic state, by Erik Franckx & Marco Benatar

I. Introduction The South China Sea (SCS) dispute has proven to be a hotbed for a variety of juridical quarrels, ranging from the extent of maritime zones[1], to territorial insular claims[2] and navigational rights.[3] One of the outlying issues that warrants closer examination concerns the baselines to be drawn around mid-ocean SCS islands.[4] As a starting position, one would surmise the applicability of the regime of normal baselines in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the...