China: Declaration of Straight Baselines in the Northern Gulf of Tonkin

On 1 March 2024, China issued a Statement of the Government of the People’s Republic of China on the Baseline of the Territorial Sea in the Northern Gulf of Tonkin, which provides for straight baselines connecting 7 designated base points in the northern waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. The announcement is made pursuant to Article 15 of the Law on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone (25 February 1992). For further information and context see the previous deposits and submissions of baselines and lines of delimitation to the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UNCLOS 16, 75, 84), as well as the additional relevant material for the publicly available position of other states available here.