After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese Communists represented by the Chinese Communists actively carried out the construction of relevant systems on the basis of the leadership summing up the lessons of history, which laid a solid foundation for China's territorial sovereignty and economic development. ** In this process, he was resolute, declaring at a meeting: "Within 12 nautical miles, it is the territorial waters of New China." On the surface, this sentence was a statement about the width of the territorial sea, but in fact it became the standard of the international maritime conventions and had a far-reaching impact on safeguarding China's maritime rights and interests.
In the 21st century, it is widely recognized that the security of territorial waters is of paramount importance, especially considering the characteristics of China's long coastline and vast total territorial sea area. Defending the security of territorial waters is regarded as the forefront of coastal defense and is a key part of maintenance and development. Moreover, China has abundant marine resources in the territorial sea, including fisheries, tourism, oil and gas, and tidal flat resources, and if these resources are fully utilized, it will provide China with a huge space for development and achieve the strategic goals of "seeking wealth from the sea" and "seeking strength from the sea."
However, before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese people's understanding of the ocean was relatively low, and they lacked a clear understanding of coastal defense. During the old China period, because the width of the territorial sea was defined as "three nautical miles", China lacked effective defense forces at sea. This standard seems to be fair on the surface, but in fact it is a trap set by the Western powers, resulting in China's maritime rights and interests being controlled by others, and the territorial sea system exists in name only. The "history of humiliation" of old China began precisely with the defeat of sea power.
The first time that China had a legal regulation on the issue of territorial waters was in 1931, when the national ** stipulated that the width of the territorial sea was "three nautical miles". This criterion is actually a continuation of the post-World War I international maritime conventions, but it hides a trap for militarily weaker states. Due to the weakness of the Chinese government at that time, this standard did not arouse sufficient vigilance. However, with the continuous escalation of the military ** of the Western powers, the range of their artillery has exceeded three nautical miles, making the rule that the width of the territorial sea is three nautical miles useless.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he deeply realized the importance of coastal defense and committed to changing the contemptuous attitude of the Chinese people towards the sea. He repeatedly proposed in the party that coastal defense should be regarded as an important part of the national defense front, and from 1949 to 1950 he fought for the formation of a coastal and riverside navy. ** It was also made clear at the first political conference of the Navy in 1951 that "the defense of the coastline and the defense of the territorial sea is the first major task of defending national defense." This laid the foundation for the construction of coastal defense in New China.
** Extremely resolute on the issue of widening the territorial waters. In the face of the controversy among the participants over the width of the new territorial waters, he skillfully led the discussion, asking about the range of domestic artillery, and learned that the range of the current cannon has reached 12 nautical miles. This realization provided a solid basis for his final decision to set the width of the territorial sea at "12 nautical miles". His declaration immediately sparked an international backlash, and although Western countries tried to criticize China's actions, they ignored it, and in the subsequent confrontation, China successfully defended its territorial waters and gradually won international recognition.
This successful experience has played a positive role in encouraging China to safeguard its sovereignty in territorial waters. Through a clear understanding of the importance of territorial sea security, China and its people have paid more firm attention to the issue of territorial waters and are committed to building a maritime power. With his long-term vision, he has won China's maritime rights and interests and created favorable conditions for China's economic development with firm determination and leadership on the international stage.