evidence: In passing, as far as the Pratas Islands (Dōngshā Qúndăo) were concerned, they were already recognized by Japan as islands remaining under Imperial China through the 1909 Japan- Ch‘ing Agreement for Handing Over Pratas Island (11 Oct. 1909). Accordingly, it appears that, even before the Second World War, the status or the sovereignty of the islands in the South China Sea (scs) was unsettled in law, except for the Pratas Islands. [...] In 1958 the prc made a declaration on 12-mile territorial sea, allowing for straight lines between the mainland and the coastal islands and requiring not only foreign airplanes but also foreign military vessels to procure the permission from the Chinese authorities for their passage through the territorial waters. While it was stipulated that these rules also apply in the Spratly Islands, it was unknown whether they meant to apply the straight baselines or to require foreign military vessels to seek and get passage permits from the authorities. In 1992 the prc enacted the Law on Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone, which formally introduced 12-mile territorial sea and straight baselines without any geomorphological restriction, and it clarified that China’s territory includes the Spratly Islands, the Paracel Islands and the Pratas Islands in the scs.9 In 1996 it issued a Declaration on Territorial Sea Baselines, and in the same year the prc ratified the un Convention on the Law of the Sea (unclos), and it issued a Declaration on Exclusive Economic Zone (eez) but therein did not mention any historic right yet.