The High Seas Already Have Rules and Portugal Helped Write Them

China’s Power Play & the Race to Create the World’s First High Seas Sanctuaries

1. China’s Bid to Control the Nerve Centre of the High Seas Treaty Just Got Real China has joined Belgium and Chile in the race to host the secretariat of the High Seas Treaty, pitching the coastal city of Xiamen as its proposed headquarters. The treaty, which recently entered into force, governs ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction and is central to plans for large high-seas marine protected areas and the global goal of protecting 30 per ce…

The High Seas already have rules and Portugal helped write them

The High Seas Treaty entered into force on 17 January 2026, and, in my reading, this is one of those discreet but truly structuring moments for the future of the ocean and for Portugal’s strategic positioning in the world.