Mai-Thanh Le, PhD., Legal researcher at Institute of State and Law, Hanoi, Vietnam. E-mail: lemaithanhvn@yahoo.com.
Tien-Duc Nguyen, MP, Legal Researcher at Institute of State and Law, Hanoi, Vietnam. E-mail: ng.tien.duc@gmail.com.
The paper seeks to explore Vietnam’s possibilities to settle the dispute peacefully through legal methods, including arbitration and judicial means, and mediation as a diplomatic method. Firstly, the paper provides a brief history of the South China Sea dispute and disputants at issue. Then, it argues that the implications from the South China Sea Arbitration ruling hold the same value for Vietnam case, leave a leeway for potential proceedings before an arbitral tribunal. Beside, the paper also finds an alternative to develop jurisprudence in international law of the sea on the South China Sea dispute through advisory opinions by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Finally, the paper turns to mediation as a diplomatic means with an emphasis on the role of mediator in support of related parties to settle the dispute peacefully.

Keywords: the South China Sea, peaceful dispute settlement, the South China Sea Arbitration, the Philippines v. China, Vietnam.

Zhanna Bazhenova, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: bjannam@mail.ru.
Elena Kolegova, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: solo888@yandex.ru.
At the present time, the territorial conflict between Japan and China on the disputed islands of Senkaku (Diaoyu) has been further developed. Publications appear more often In the Chinese media and the Internet, the main subject of these articles is the non-recognition of Japanese sovereignty over Okinawa. Since Chinese publications appeal mainly to historical arguments, meaning that for centuries the Kingdom of the Ryukyu existed as an independent state under the suzerainty of China, and was torn away by Japan by force, the purpose of current paper is to trace the evolution of Okinawa’s relationship with Japan and China in the historical context. The authors consider the peculiarities of state formation processes in the Ryukyu archipelago and the participation of Japan and China in them. The formation and flourishing of the Kingdom of Ryukyu is associated with its accession to a vassal-tributary system centered in China, within which it played a significant role in a wide trading network in East and South-East Asia. The military invasion of the Japanese Satsuma clan in the beginning of XVII century lead to the establishment of a vassal dependence of the Kingdom on Japan, but with the preservation of vassal relations with China. The final annexation of Okinawa to Japan occurred as a result of annexation process in 1879. After the World War II, under the conditions of the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Okinawa was transferred under the United States “trusteeship”. The USA deployed network of military bases there. At present, the situation when Okinawa bears the main burden on the deployment of US military bases, is viewed as structural discrimination and generates separatist sentiments in the prefecture. Analysis of the Japanese media allows authors to talk about the growing contradictions between Okinawa and the Tokyo metropolis. The authors conclude that China, while nurturing the ideas of independence in Okinawa, seeks to split the Japanese society and there by achieve concessions to Japan on the ownership of the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands.

Keywords: China, Japan, territorial dispute, the Kingdom of Ryukyu, Okinawa Prefecture, vassalage, sovereignty, “media wars”.

Anna Simonenok, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: asimonenok@yandex.ru.
Nikolai Vitko, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: kolyavitko@gmail.com.
Ethno-territorial conflicts have always been the accompanying problem of state development and inter-state boundary disputes. This article reviews the history and current state of ethno-territorial conflicts which emerged in the Indochina Peninsula in the XX century. Depending on the nature of ethno-territorial conflicts three types of clashes can be distinguished: disputes around territory or land boundary; claims of an ethnic majority to gain greater autonomy of state within the country or even become independent; conflicts as results of government persecution policy towards a particular ethnic group. Three ethno-territorial conflicts are described and examined in the article. First, Cambodian-Thai border dispute. Originally it was a classical inter-state boundary conflict, but soon it demonstrated clearly ethnic nature and became classical ethno-territorial conflict of the first type. Second, South Thailand insurgency problem, that developed in south frontier provinces of Thailand. Third, problem of Rohingya people in Rakhine State of Myanmar. All three conflicts deal with rather sensitive subjects and create long-time disputes which involve the interests and security of their direct participants and international community as well. Analyzing the history of ethno-territorial conflicts in Indochina, it becomes clear that since government used to rely on force methods only the disputes failed to be solved. Thus searching for the roots of the described problems and trying to develop a compromising way of solving the ethno-territorial conflicts seems logical and vitally significant.
Keywords: Indochina, Southeast Asia, ethno-territorial conflict, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Preah Vihear, Phra Viharn, Pattani, Rohingya Muslims, Rakhine.

Ekaterina Arkhipova, Volgograd State University, Volgograd, Russia. E-mail: arkhipova@volsu.ru
The article aims to identify the reasons why Azerbaijan and Georgia froze delimitation negotiations on the joint border following the growth of territorial claims in the frontier area. The author describes the conditions of the extension of local borders and historical narratives of ethno-national policy, determines the geographic and ethnic characteristics of the frontier, and identifies border security challenges, the influence of the economy on the delimitation process, and the conditions for cross-border cooperation. Based on the analysis, the reasons of the break in the delimitation negotiations are presented in the conclusion. There are the following causes: close and to a certain extent forced economic relations, violation of territorial integrity of the countries in other areas that requires more attention than the joint border, the confusion of different identities in territorial claims against the backdrop of resolving disputes about other boundaries. These conditions force the governments of the republics to ignore indignation of “divided nations” about the national policy. These people belong to the ethnic groups whose settlement formed long before the establishment of the border line and who, after 1991,turned out to be on different sides of the interstate border breaking their communication (Azerbaijani in Georgia, Ingiloys, Avars). The attention is focused on the fact that there is a notion of ideal borders in the public opinion of both countries, and radical groups can use historical facts and problems of “divided ethnic groups” to set up territorial claims on the opposite side.
Keywords: border security, Ingiloys, Avars, Borchali, David Gareja monastery complex, Red Bridge.

Boris Tkachenko, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: boristkachenko@inbox.ru.
The problem of differentiation of sea economic possession between the USSR and the USA during negotiating process in 70—80th years of XX century is considered and political, international legal and economic aspects of the prisoner in 1990 of the Agreement between the USSR and the USA about a line of differentiation of sea spaces are analyzed. The basic problems during preparation of the Agreement between the USSR and the USA of 1990 — differentiation between the USSR and the USA a disputable EEZ and a disputable continental shelf in the central part of the Bering Sea outside economic zones of the USSR and the USA are considered. It is shown based on the executed map-scheme as there should pass a line of differentiation between territories of sea economic possession of the USSR and the USA in Bering Strait, in the Bering and Chukchi Seas and the characteristic of concessions of the USSR and Russia is given. Territorial losses of Russia are characterized as a result of signing Agreement 1990 and its introduction in action and the estimated data on losses of the USSR (Russia) of EEZ and a continental shelf, the data on economic value of resources of a continental shelf in conflict areas, and also the data on damages for the fishing industry of Russia from application of Agreement 1990 are resulted.
Keywords: EEZ, continental shelf, Bering Sea, Arctic regions, the Russian-American Convention of 1867, the Agreement between the USSR and the USA about a line of differentiation of sea spaces of 1990, median line, the international marine law.

Aleksandr Ivanov, Pacific State University, Khabarovsk, Russia. E-mail: ivanoff1967@mail.ru.
The Korean War of 1950—1953 for many years pushed the question of unification of the two Koreas, retaining military and political tensions on the peninsula, which put and still puts both Koreas to the brink of another military conflict. Despite of the adoption of a number of regulations, the question of the border between North and South Korea in the region remains unresolved, which creates conditions for periodic escalation of tensions. In this regard, North and South Korea have to contain the waters of the Gulf of Ganghwa large groups of ship. Thus, part of the Yellow Sea became a potential flashpoint that could become a source of widespread conflict. The so-called “Northern Limit Line” (NLL), is legally not a maritime boundary between the two Koreas, crosses the area of fisheries, which is of great vital to experiencing difficult times in the economy of North Korea, and passes close to the lively and busy South Korean port. On this basis, the potential for conflict demarcation line in the Yellow Sea is determined by factors such as the disputed status of the economic importance of water areas and numerous precedents of military clashes. To prevent further discharge of military tensions in the Yellow Sea between Korea and the DPRK needs the negotiation process in order to determine the legal status of the demarcation line in the Yellow Sea, taking into account the mutual interests of both sides.
Keywords: Democratic People Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Yellow Sea, demarcation line, NLL, US-ROK naval exercises, border clashes, military tension.

Tatiana Sem, Department of Ethnography of the peoples of Siberia and the Far East of the Russian ethnographic Museum, Saint-Petersburg, Russia. E-mail: semturem@mail.ru.
The article observes the pantheon of gods and spirits of the ancient population which is reconstructed for the first time on the basis of the archaeological monuments of petroglyphs of the Baikal region, Transbaikal, the Upper and Lower Amur of the Paleometalepoch (the Bronze Age — II thousand BC — the beginning of the Iron Age — I thousand BC). Separate plots are compared with the rock carvings of the Lower Amur and the Ussuri in the Neolithic and Paleometal periods. The archaeological material is interpreted through the analysis method of the iconography and the method of ethnographic analogies. There are images of the supreme gods of Heaven, the sun, the thunder, the fertility, the chief deity of the underworld, and the spirits of the middle world (forests, mountains and rivers) on the petroglyphs of the Upper Amur, Aldan and of the Baikal region. The supreme gods are depicted in the form of huge masks, the spirits of the middle world have the appearance of human figures but are larger than people. Some drawings are associated with shamanism. Shamans are depicted next to the God of the thunder and the sun: they either perform the ritual in the form of a dance or get the forces of fertility from the Supreme deity in the form of rows of dots which they place in a tambourine and shake to the ground. In addition, the petroglyphs have images of the humpbacked one-legged figures. They are associated with shamanic spirit helpers, guides to the worlds of the universe with the appearance of a bird-snake. Comparing the iconography of the gods on petroglyphs and data of mythology about the Evenki, the author comes to the conclusion that they are identical.
Keywords: petroglyphs, the Bronze and the Iron Ages, the Baikal region, the Amur region, Evenki, pantheon of gods and spirits, the cult, shamanism, mythology, reconstruction, iconography.

Sergei Yakovenko, Far-Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: iakovenko.sv@dvfu.ru.
The article focuses on mythological representations of the Japanese referring to the field of “lower mythology”. The study of their forms is vital because being a reflection of the historical past they are passed on from generation to generation acquiring uniqueness in the culture where they are formed and transmitted. Despite frequent use of the images of yokai (supernatural creatures) in Japanese mythopoetic sources and non-fiction of the early periods, detailed scientific descriptions of these creatures were not available until first Japanese encyclopedias appeared. The peculiarities of depiction of the yokai are explored in Japanese encyclopedic editions in the middle of the seventeenth century — the early eighteenth century. Using the evolutionary approach, the author traces the influence exerted by Chinese encyclopedias — Honzo komoku (Chinese Bencao Gangmu, 1598) in 52 volumes and Sansai zue (Chinese Sancai Tuhui, 1607) in 106 volumes in order to create Japanese works of the same genre. Appearing in Japan, these outstanding works of Chinese scientists awoke Japanese authors’ desire in creating their own “encyclopedias”. The article analyzes authors’ approaches to introducing the information about the subtle world of the yokai in two Japanese “encyclopedias” — Kinmo zui (1666) and Wakan Sansai zue (1712). Taking into consideration the data of the comparative-typological and comparative analysis, the peculiarities of the existence of certain yokai in the life of the Japanese are explored. The Japanese psychologically accepted them as real inevitability and recognized the coexistence with them.
Keywords: encyclopedia, mentality, yokai, Japan, Kinmo zui, Wakan sansai zue, Shushigaku.

Irina Zhushchikhovskaya, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: irina1zh@mail.ru.
The article is considering basic categories of everyday wares of Korean settlers of Russian Maritime region in 1860—1930th in the context of food culture. Research materials are the artifacts assemblages collected at the remains of old Korean settlements in southern Russian Maritime region. These settlements are interpreted as the objects of historical archaeology. They contain material records for the studying and reconstruction of recent past. At these places the remains of farmsteads, living houses were detected. The assemblages of various tools, instruments, and utensils were collected. There are distinguished certain functional categories of everyday wares. Large-sized glazed ceramic containers were used for the preparing and storage of specific fermented meals. Ordinary ceramic vessels made with potter’s wheel served as kitchen wares. Porcelain and glazed ceramic bowls were used as table wares. Specific wares were sphere-shaped bowls made of the metal (bronze and brass). All these categories were the part of food culture of Korean settlers at southern Russian Far East. In general, our research results are corresponding to the thesis that the components of food culture may be interpreted as the indicators of ethnicity. The Koreans of Maritime region provided their needs in everyday wares with import trading and local production.
Keywords: Russian Maritime region, Korean settlements, food and cuisine culture, wares functional categories.

Victor Denisov, Centre of International and Interregional Cooperation, Moscow — Saint-Petersburg, Russia. E-mail: vicnicden@gmail.com.
Olga Denisova, Moscow State Institute of Culture, Moscow, Russia. E-mail: olgada07@rambler.ru.
The article is devoted to the events which were unusual for the First World War: carrying out folklore and linguistic recordings of people from various regions of the world, including those from the Russian Empire, who were taken prisoners of war in Germany. The authors’ attention was drawn to the recordings of ethnic Koreans who were drafted into the army from the territory of modern Primorsky Krai. Despite the fact that many Koreans were the citizens of the Russian Empire for several generations and spoke perfect Russian, they preserved their native language, their culture and traditions; therefore, they came in sight of the German linguists. The members of the Royal Prussian Phonographic Commission, which was specially created for recordings of prisoners of war, used the most advanced technical equipment of that time: the phonograph with wax cylinders and the gramophone with shellac records. Nowadays, the recordings of ethnic Koreans from Primorsky Krai are stored in two leading sound archives of Germany — in the Berlin Phonogram Archive, which is a part of the Ethnological Museum, and in the Sound Archive (Lautarchiv) at the Humboldt University of Berlin. For a long time due to various reasons these recorded materials were virtually forgotten by scientists. Only in the late 1990s, sufficiently detailed information about the recordings of ethnic Koreans from the Russian Empire in 1915—1917 was published in South Korean newspapers.
Keywords: First World War, ethnic Koreans, prisoners of war in Germany, Phonographic commission, language and folklore recordings, the Berlin Phonogram Archive, the Lautarchiv at the Humboldt University.

Marina Osipova, Khabarovsk Territorial Museum after N.I. Grodekov, Khabarovsk, Russia. E-mail: ainu07@mail.ru.
The article describes the essential characteristics of the traditional pedagogical culture — public upbringing and continuity — observed in all ethnic groups, including the Ainu. The researchers defined the basic methods of educational influence, such as clarification, habituation, a personal example, demonstration of an exercise, encouragement, approval, a hint, a reproach, condemnation, and punishment. The main goal was to bring up a worthy member of the community. In addition to above mentioned methods, folk pedagogy applied a number of methods aimed at improving the social and personal development of children. The upbringing of the young generation through the labor activity, the game, learning the basics of arts and crafts, musical, and choreographic art, formation of moral and ethical principles based on the folklore examples gave positive results. The basic working skills of the Ainu children, developed by the period of youth, contributed to survival in difficult climatic conditions. Artistic education formed a sense of beauty, the ability to see beauty in ordinary things transferring itintothe household items and clothes in the form of ornamental compositions. Valuable orientations set up by the family helped the young Ainu to socialize in the community. The historical events that took place in the nineteenth century destroyed the traditions of the Ainu pedagogical culture. The traditional type of management was replaced by the agricultural one. The numerous prohibitions were introduced by the Japanese government. The Ainu names, the Ainu language, the Ainu rituals, tattooing were strictly prohibited. The Ainu people could not accept the destruction of their native culture. The active process of revival of the Ainu culture started in 1970s—1980s of the twentieth century. The Ainu language teaching, popularization of folk heritage, distribution of arts and crafts products, the Ainu traditional food, representation of Ainu music, songs, and dances led to the rise of national consciousness in the Ainu community. However, the process of revival in modern conditions requires new approaches and the state support. The ethnization of the Ainu youth is still at the beginning of its development.
Keywords: the Ainu, folk pedagogy, traditional pedagogical culture, methods of upbringing, means of social and personal development, the process of ethnization.

Vadim Turaev, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: v_turaev@mail.ru.
The paper examines current issues of the traditional fishery of the indigenous peoples of the Far East which ensures a traditional way of life (for personal consumption) and a traditional economic activity (fishing community). The main problems of the rights of indigenous peoples to traditional fishing are shown: small fishing quotas for the personal use, a declarative principle of providing quotas, a poor material and technical community base, the lack of concessional lending, an undeveloped market for manufactured products, imperfection of the legislative and regulatory system in which traditional fishery is realized, etc. Apart from the objective reasons, largely related to the change of the economic model of the development of the country, a competitive activity which is conducted by industrial companies and often supported by not disinterested officials has a negative impact on the fishery of indigenous peoples. The crackdown on the fishing rights of indigenous peoples is conducted in many ways: the provision of non-competitive field areas is abolished, the charges for aquatic biological resources are introduced, the priority principle is excluded. Resistance to communal fishery is reflected in aggravation of normative documents which allow the indigenous peoples to be involved in fish production. There are proposals to equalize communities and industrial enterprises with the following consequences: auctions under general conditions, multimillion payments for field areas and cancellation of the concept of “traditional fishery”. The attempts to restrict and even to eliminate communal fishing for business purposes is considered in the article as one of the types of discrimination — deprivation of the indigenous peoples to participate in the economic life of the country.
Keywords: indigenous peoples, Far East, traditional fishery.

Lyudmila Khakhovskaya, North-East Interdisciplinary Scientific Research Institute n.a. N.A. Shilo, Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (NEISRI FEB RAS), Magadan, Russia. E-mail: hahovskaya@mail.ru.
The article raises the problem of the mechanism of perception and diagnosis of ethnic differences during intercultural contacts. The author believes that personal experience of researchers conducting field work may be useful to determine the conditions of ethnographic knowledge, to identify the purposes of disciplinary epistemology. The field diaries are an important source of such experience. The author analyzes the diary of Dina Lazarevna Jochelson-Brodsky, a member of the Jesup Pacific expedition. The work is based on the ideas of F. Ankersmit about the nature of historical experience and the essence of historical conceptualizations. The author believes that there are two positions which connect Brodsky’s cognitive attitude and grounds of scientific anthropological knowledge. Firstly, the prerequisite of anthropological ontology and epistemology is the discovery of a deep cultural gap between the worlds of the observer and the aborigines. Secondly, ethnical and cultural centrism of the observer is a diagnostic tool in the field practice and academic discourse.

According to the author, anthropological knowledge is rooted in a feeling of a deep cultural abyss and transfer into another world. The observer’s personal experience is traumatic, causes nostalgic sufferings and therefore has a transcendental character. The subjectivist perspective of the observer is an organizing principle of perception of cultural diversity. The observer places the cultural phenomena as intuitively perceived distances and approaches. The author supposes that the nature of the anthropological field actualizes a disconnected model of subjectivity, personal autonomy localized in an individual, his existential meanings and life practices.

Keywords: D.L. Jochelson-Brodsky, Jesup Expedition, field diary, personal experience, interethnic interactions.

Valentin Golovachev, Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow. Е-mail: valliu@complat.ru.
Anastasia Kovalenko, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow. E-mail: sev.kendo@gmail.com.
The article describes the history of Russian research in the Pacific Rim and the destiny of Pavel Ibis (1852—1877), an ensign of the naval navigator corps, an ethnic Estonian, a participant in circumnavigation on the sailing-screw corvette “Askold” in 1872—1876. In 1875, Ibis alone made an “ethnographic journey” to Taiwan. As a result, he wrote a detailed report and published it in two articles in the journals “Morskoy Sbornik” (1876) and “Globus” (1877). After the untimely death of Ibis in 1877, his name was forgotten in Russia. It wasn’t until the 1980s, when M. Chigrinskiy restored the biography of the traveler and summarized the general content of his German-language article in 1877. Nowadays, the name of Ibis is returned from oblivion in Russia, abroad and in Taiwan. In many ways, this was facilitated by an expedition to Taiwan “following the footsteps” of Russian sailor by amateur travelers F. Labutin and S. Malkov from Chelyabinsk in 2014. The result of the expedition, which was widely covered in the media, was new research as well as a thematic exhibition held in five Russian cities (Miass, Chelyabinsk, Moscow, Sevastopol and Saint Petersburg) in 2014—2017. The joint efforts of scientists and history lovers created conditions for a deeper understanding of scientific heritage of Ibis. The article shows the current results of searches and studies of library and archival materials which clarify the circumstances of the circumnavigation of the corvette “Askold” and “excursions to Formosa” as well as details of the biography of P.I. Ibis.
Keywords: Ibis, Askold, Labutin, Malkov, Morskoy sbornik, Taiwan, travel, Formosa, Chigrinskiy, ethnography, Globus.