《联合国海洋法公约》第四部分“群岛国”规定了群岛水域制度,但对大陆国家的远洋群岛能否适用群岛制度却未予明确规定。通过考察分析起草《公约》的准备文件发现,《公约》回避这一问题是受到政治及外交因素的影响,而不是因为缺乏相关的事实和法理基础。实践中,不少大陆国家通过国家立法为其远洋群岛设立直线基线,有些国家的相关立法还得到其他国家承认。近年来,有些大陆国家在以其远洋群岛的直线基线为基础提交的外大陆架界限方案没有受到其他国家的反对。这表明大陆国家在远洋群岛适用直线基线的做法越来越被国际社会所包容。虽然现阶段还不能得出大陆国家在远洋群岛适用直线基线已经形成了习惯国际法规则的结论,但现有国家实践表明了这一发展趋势。 The fourth part of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea “Islands State ” provides for the archipelagic waters system, but there is no clear stipulation on whether the archipelago system can be applied to the ocean-going islands of mainland countries. By examining and analyzing the preparations for the drafting of the Convention, it was found that the Convention’s avoidance of this issue was influenced by political and diplomatic factors rather than by lack of relevant factual and legal basis. In practice, many mainland countries set a straight-line baseline for their offshore islands through national legislation, and the relevant legislation in some countries has also been recognized by other countries. In recent years, some mainland countries have not been opposed by other countries on the outer continental shelf limit proposal submitted on the basis of their oceanic straight-line baseline. This shows that the mainland countries are applying the linear baseline in the ocean islands more and more by the international community. Although it can not be concluded at this stage that the continental countries have applied the straight-line baseline in the oceanic archipelago to the conclusion of the rules of customary international law, the current state practice shows this trend of development.