In Current Maritime Issues and the International Maritime Organization, leading experts thoughtfully consider the most pressing issues confronting the International Maritime Organization, as the IMO celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. The papers in this publication were originally presented at the Twenty-Third Annual Seminar of the Center for Oceans Law and Policy (COLP), University of Virginia School of Law, an event co-hosted with the IMO in January, 1999, at its headquarters in London. Subjects covered were maritime safety, marine environmental protection, flag State implementation and port State control, IMO's interface with the Law of the Sea Convention, IMO Legal Committee work, and broader questions of IMO regulations and oceans policy. Current Maritime Issues and the International Maritime Organization also includes keynote papers by Sir Robert Jennings, the distinguished former President of the International Court of Justice; Ms Glenda Jackson, the United Kingdom Under-Secretary of State and Minister of Shipping; and Ambassador Satya N. Nandan, the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority.

South China Sea (SCS) issues are complex and dynamic, ranging from historic claims to present day military occupation, from military security to regional stability, from rhetorical appeasements to national interests, from intraregional competition to extraregional involvement. The submissions made in 2009 by several Southeast Asian states to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) respecting outer limits of extended continental shelves beyond 200 nautical miles in the South China Sea resulted in renewed attention to the maritime disputes over the insular features and the waters of the South China Sea among several claimant States. Questions have resurfaced about the future of cooperation in the region. Furthermore, the improvement of cross-Strait relations between Taiwan and China after 2008 has added a new element to the evolution of South China Sea issues. This book describes these recent developments in depth and provides an examination of possible future developments in the South China Sea. The articles in this book were originally published as special sections in Ocean Development & International Law.