Experts say it is not appropriate to call the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea the "Constitution for the Oceans"

On June 30, in a related interpretation session held in Beijing, Luo Gang, a researcher at the Institute for Marine Development Strategy of the Ministry of Natural Resources, said that describing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as a "Charter of the Oceans" is not appropriate from the perspective of the development of the law of the sea. Luo Gang pointed out that the Convention is an important achievement of the postwar international legal order for the oceans and is a treaty rather than a constitution. The international legal system itself does not have a "constitutional" level in the sense of domestic law, so the Convention should not be understood as the highest norm overriding other international legal rules. He also mentioned that in international judicial practice, the Convention usually needs to be applied together with other rules of international law, rather than being given universal priority. Scholars from many countries also believe that the term "Charter of the Oceans" may cause misunderstanding and may even restrict the continued development of the law of the sea as circumstances change. Luo Gang said that the key to safeguarding the authority of the Convention lies in whether all parties exercise their rights reasonably, fulfill their obligations in good faith, and uphold its purpose and internal balancing mechanisms.