United Nations S/Res/1 (2017)
Security Council
15th of January 2017
Resolution 1 (2017)
Adopted by the Security Council on 15 January 2017
Signatories: China, Malaysia, Russia, Angola, Uruguay, New Zealand, Venezuela, Ukraine
The Security Council,
Guided by the United Nations Charter,
Notes with appreciation on the resumption of bilateral dialogue between People’s
Republic of China and Republic of Philippines and reminds that previous bilateral
negotiations between China and Vietnam regarding the territorial dispute on the Gulf of
Tonkin have been successful,
Affirming that the nine-dash line is a demarcation of the region within which the Nanhai
Zhudao Islands, on which China claims sovereignty, and their relevant waters are
present,
Considering the ruling of Permanent Court of Arbitration as non-binding on the People’s
Republic of China due to the 2006 Declaration of the Government of the People’s
Republic of China, and unrepresentative in general due to the arbitration being a
unilateral action by the Republic of Philippines,
Reaffirming that bilateral negotiations between states that are directly concerned can
lead to peaceful resolution of the South China Sea conflict, and similar cases such as the
Venezuela-Guyana conflict, according to the 2002 Declaration On The Conduct of Parties
in the South China Sea, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and
the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence,
1. Affirms that the nine-dash line is a demarcation of the region within which the
Nanhai Zhudao Islands, on which China and other states claims sovereignty, and
their relevant waters are present;
2. Believes that, according to Article 10 of the 2002 Declaration of Conduct of Parties
in the South China Sea, the disputed region requires a Code of Conduct, as an
interim arrangement for stability in the region, formulated by relevant parties of
the Association of the South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and People’s Republic of
China, which shall:
a) Create an environment where tensions are deescalated and stability in the
region is achieved for peaceful resolution of territorial disputes,
b) Respect territorial integrity, sovereignty and historical facts,
c) Work on the guidelines of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Seas (UNCLOS) and enhance cooperation for marine environmental
protection, marine scientific research, combating transnational crime, and
rescue operations,
d) Emphasize on mutual non-interference in internal matters,
e) Initiate Confidence-building measures between relevant parties of ASEAN
and China, which include:
i. Establishment of foreign ministry hotlines between parties directly
concerned to act as crisis-management parameters,
ii. Sharing of information regarding joint military exercises in the
disputed waters,
iii. Conducting delegation visits and having periodic defense and
foreign ministry meetings;
3. Declares that the Code of Conduct formed by the relevant parties of the ASEAN
and China will have the status of a treaty, and will operate under the Vienna
Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969 and the principle of pacta sunt servanda,
which is described in Article 26 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of the
Treaties;
4. Declares that if the Relevant Parties of the ASEAN and People’s Republic of China
both sign a joint, unanimous declaration declaring bilateral negotiations to have
failed, the United Nations Security Council can be referred to;
5. Recommends that interference in the region by third party actors and states not
directly concerned must be kept to the minimum and requiring consent from
administrators of Nanhai Zhudao Islands before conducting any activity that does
not fit in the definition of Innocent Passage as described in Article 19 of the UN
Convention of the Law of the Seas in the 12 nautical-mile territorial sea of the
Island should be compulsory;
6. Reaffirms all the states commitment to freedom of navigation, over flight and
innocent passage, and urges to allow vessels performing Innocent Passage, under
Article 17, which are following their duties under Article 39 of the UN Convention
on the Law of the Sea, to undergo transit passage and none of the coastal states or
claimant states must disrupt this transit;
7. Authorizes the infrastructural development and increase in defense capabilities,
for defense purposes only and based on mutual non-aggression, in the Nanhai
Zhudao Islands in the South China Sea for effective management and security of
trade and commercial routes in the area;
8. Urges for creation of Joint Economic Development Areas in the South China Sea,
allowing claimant countries in the South China Sea carrying out joint economic
development in the overlapping area of Chinese claimed relevant waters and their
200 nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zones;
9. Decides to remain actively seized on the matter.