Professional Documents
Culture Documents
points and are not comprehensive. It is imperative for you to explore the
current situation, proposed solutions, problems and positions on your own.
The South China Sea disputes involve both island and maritime
claims among several sovereign states within the region,
namely the Nation of Brunei, the People's Republic of China, the
Republic of China (Taiwan), Malaysia, Indonesia, the Republic of
the Philippines, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. As a high
proportion of the world's trade passes through the South China
Sea, there are many non-claimant nations that want the South
China Sea to remain as international waters, with several
nations (e.g. the United States of America) conducting
"freedom of navigation" operations.
The disputes include the islands, reefs and banks of the South
China Sea, including the Spratly and Paracel islands, the
various boundaries, including those in the Gulf of Tonkin. There
is a further dispute in the waters near the Indonesian Natuna
Islands which by most definitions are not part of the South
China Sea. The interests of the nations include retaining or
acquiring the rights to fishing areas; the exploration and
potential exploitation of crude oil and natural gas under the
waters of various parts of the South China Sea, and the
strategic control of important shipping lanes.
specific disputes :
The nine-dash line area claimed by the Republic of China, later
People's Republic of China which covers most of the South
China sea and overlaps the exclusive economic zone claims of
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and
Vietnam.
Maritime boundary along the Vietnamese coast between PRC,
Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Maritime boundary north of Borneo between China, Malaysia,
Philippines, and Taiwan.
claims of the major part of the South China Sea. The contested
area in the South China Sea includes the Paracel Islands, the
Spratly Islands, and various other areas including the Pratas
Islands, the Macclesfield Bank and the Scarborough Shoal. The
claim encompasses the area of Chinese land reclamation
known as the "great wall of sand"
at the end of World War II, the Republic of China (Taiwan)
reclaimed the entirety of the Paracels, Pratas and Spratly
Islands after accepting the Japanese surrender of the islands
based on the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations. In November
1946, the Republic of China sent naval ships to take control of
these islands after the surrender of Japan. When the Peace
Treaty with Japan was being signed at the San Francisco
Conference, on 7 September 1951, both China and Vietnam
asserted their rights to the islands. Later the Philippine
government also laid claim to some islands of the archipelagos.
However, under the 1943 Cairo Declaration and 1945 Potsdam
Proclamation, Republic of China's sovereignty over the
archipelagos and waters of South China Sea was not stated.
HISTORY OF THE 9 DASH LINE
Seven out of about 200 reefs in the Spratly Islands came under
Chinese control in the 1980s and 1990s and Scarborough Shoal
in 2012. Taiwan still maintains its maritime claims in the region
and has kept a military garrison on Pratas Islands and the
largest natural feature in the Spratlys, Taiping.
Why is the line so important?
It serves as the basis of Chinas claim to historical rights in
the region, as neither Beijing nor Taipei ever held effective
control over the entire region encompassing more than 2
million sq km. According to former Philippine President Benigno
Aquino III, "China's nine-dash line territorial claim over the
entire South China Sea is against international laws, particularly
the United Nations Convention of the Laws of the Sea
(UNCLOS)" as also ruled by the Permanent Court of Arbitration
in the Hague. The tribunal judged that there was no evidence
that China had historically exercised exclusive control over the
waters or resources within the Nine-Dash Line.
2) Taiwan
Taiwan shares many of its South China Sea claims with the PRC
in fact, the claims officially originated not with the PRC but
with the Republic of China (ROC) government in the immediate
post-war era. When the ROC moved its capital to Taipei at the
end of the Chinese Civil War, it brought its territorial claims.
Taiwan thus found itself in the uncomfortable position of having
its claims challenged through the Philippines case against
China without having an opportunity to participate in the
case. Taiwan, which is not a member of the United Nations, is
likewise not a party to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS); there was no legal avenue for Taipei to insert itself
into the case. Even Taiwans request to send an observer
delegation to the hearings was denied. Most importantly for
Taiwan, the tribunal took up the question of the status of Itu
Aba, known as Taiping Island in Taiwan. The island, the largest
naturally occurring feature in the Spratlys group, is occupied by
Taiwan and houses a military garrison, a hospital, and a farm.
Taipei strenuously argued its case that Itu Aba is capable of
sustaining human habitation, with its freshwater wells and
ability to grow produce, and is thus an island under UNCLOS.
That, in turn, would give Taipei a claim to a 200 nautical mile
EEZ extending from Itu Aba and encompassing a wide swath of
the South China Sea. The tribunal, however, ultimately
disagreed. It found that Itu Aba along with the rest of the
Spratlys is not an island, as it cannot sustain a human
community without external aid. Taiwans response was
immediate.
3) Malaysia
Malaysia claims a small number of islands in the Spratly Islands
and its claims cover only the islands included in its Exclusive
economic zone of 200 miles as defined by the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea. Malaysia has militarily
occupied three islands that it considers to be within its
continental shelf. Swallow Reef (Layang Layang / Terumbu
China Sea, namely the Chunxiao gas field, which lies within the
Chinese EEZ while Japan believes it is connected to other
possible reserves beyond the median line. Japan has objected
to PRC development of natural gas resources in the East China
Sea near an area where the two countries Exclusive Economic
Zone (EEZ) claims overlap. Under the United Nations' Law of
the Sea, the PRC claims the disputed ocean territory as its own
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) due to its being part of PRC's
natural extension of its continental shelf, while Japan claims the
disputed ocean territory as its own EEZ because it is within 200
nautical miles (370 km) from Japan's coast, and proposed a
median line as the boundary between the EEZ of China and
Japan. About 40,000 square kilometres of EEZ are in dispute.
China and Japan both claim 200 nautical miles EEZ rights, but
the East China Sea width is only 360 nautical miles. China
claims an EEZ extending to the eastern end of the Chinese
continental shelf (based on UNCLOS III) which goes deep into
the Japanese's claimed EEZ.
The dispute between PRC and South Korea concerns Socotra
Rock, a submerged reef on which South Korea has constructed
a scientific research station. While neither country claims the
rock as territory, the PRC has objected to Korean activities there
as a breach of its EEZ rights. South Korea was under pressure
from the United States to clarify its position on the South China
Sea. Then, in November, Defense Minister Han Min-goo
delivered remarks at the ASEAN Defense Ministers' MeetingPlus (ADMM-Plus) stating that freedom of navigation and
overflight must be guaranteed and that the disputes should be
resolved in a peaceful manner. Later that month, President Park
Geun-hye went a step further at the East Asia Summit in
Malaysia when she stated that concerned parties should
observe the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South
China Sea and that disputes should be resolved per
international law. She went on to assert that concerned
countries must respect the promise of demilitarizing the South
China Sea, which was widely interpreted as supporting the U.S.
position on the disputes. At the 2015 East Asia Summit, Park
Chinas claims to historic rights, or other sovereign rights
or jurisdiction, with respect to the maritime areas of the South
China Sea encompassed by the relevant part of the nine-dash
line are contrary to the Convention and without lawful effect to
the extent that they exceed the geographic and substantive
limits of Chinas maritime entitlements under the Convention.
The Convention superseded any historic rights or other
sovereign rights or jurisdiction in excess of the limits imposed
therein
REFERENCES
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-13748349
http://blogs.reuters.com/greatdebate/2015/06/09/everything-you-need-to-know-aboutthe-south-china-sea-conflict-in-under-five-minutes/
http://www.cfr.org/asia-and-pacific/chinas-maritimedisputes/p31345#!/?cid=otr-marketing_usechina_sea_InfoGuide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spratly_Islands_dispute#Clai
ms_and_their_basis
http://nbr.org/publications/element.aspx?id=863
http://thediplomat.com/2016/07/taiwan-south-china-searuling-completely-unacceptable/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/countdown-to-war-in-thesouth-china-sea/5537755
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/09/03/the-legacy-of-obamaspivot-to-asia/
https://www.rt.com/news/373709-china-vietnam-seadisputes/
http://www.businessstandard.com/article/international/obama-administrationcalls-for-peaceful-solution-to-south-china-sea-dispute117011400082_1.html
https://www.yahoo.com/news/recent-developmentssurrounding-south-china-sea-025035664.html