Sandwiched between the Pacific and Indian Oceans lies the South China Sea. As a treasure chest of untapped resources, which multiple countries covet, it is the poster child of modern-day territorial disputes. This two-part article explores the origins of the claims by the countries involved, lays out likely developments that may take place in the foreseeable future as well as discusses India’s role in the conflict.
Origins of China’s Claims
Following the conclusion of World War II, China proceeded to reclaim several islands in the South China Sea, namely, the Paracel, Pratas and Spratly Islands. This reclamation stemmed from the Chinese assumption of Japan’s eventual surrender, during the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation in 1943 and 1945 respectively.
Soon after the Japanese Surrender, China faced competing claims from the Philippines and Vietnam. The Chinese government proceeded to provide a map documented with eleven-dashes in 1947, meant to demarcate the portions of the South China Sea (and its contained islands) belonging to China. The map was amended in 1949 to reduce the demarcation to nine-dashes, as the Chinese government withdrew claims over the Gulf of Tonkin.
This created the oft-cited basis for China’s territorial claims over the South China Sea, succinctly referred to as the nine-dash line.
Strength of China’s Claims based on the “Nine-dash Line”
China was never explicitly granted sovereignty over the archipelagos in question, despite the declarations during the Cairo and Potsdam conferences. Essentially, this is where the Chinese government’s “nine-dash line claim” appears to be folly, to this day.
This was firmly established during the South China Sea Arbitration tribunal between the Philippines and China in The Hague. The tribunal ruled in favour of the Philippines, while the Chinese government, in an act of defiance, did not attend any of the scheduled hearings. The tribunal clarified that it would not “…rule on any question of sovereignty over land territory and would not delimit any maritime boundary between the Parties” and that China has “no historical rights” based on the “nine-dash line” map.
If not evident from their absence at the hearings, China rejected the tribunal’s ruling by stating that it was not binding on the Chinese government’s sovereign decisions and continued with extraction activities within the South China Sea.
Current Position
Apart from The Hague ruling on the matter and the lack of explicit evidence to support China’s claims, the nine-dash line is also in contravention of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The UNCLOS defines an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as “an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea, subject to the specific legal regime established in this Part, under which the rights and jurisdiction of the coastal State and the rights and freedoms of other States are governed by the relevant provisions of this Convention”.
Based on this definition, China’s territorial claims related to the nine-dash line appears to infringe on the EEZ’s of several countries such as Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. This proves to be a significant problem as most of the countries involved have ratified and accepted the UNCLOS. In fact, India is one of the countries that has continuously emphasised the importance of the freedom of navigation and abiding by the UNCLOS.
Ultimately, while several countries have made territorial claims based on the principles of sovereignty and the mandate of the UNCLOS, the importance of the South China Sea region as an untapped supply of resources due to the abundance of oil and natural gas deposits must be acknowledged.
Among these countries, China has already undertaken the necessary steps to begin its extraction of oil from the seabed. The “Ocean Oil 981” was China’s first independently designed and constructed oil drilling platform in the South China Sea, with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (19%) serving as the majority shareholder. Controversially, China shifted the operations of the “Ocean Oil 981” closer to the Paracel Islands in 2014, despite Vietnam asserting a violation of its territorial claims. Chinese officials justified the shift by stating that the operations were to take place in the waters surrounding the Paracel Islands, occupied and controlled by China and its military.
Thus, the South China Sea is a contentious hotspot with multiple countries jostling for territorial claims. Other countries have also become involved, while engaging in related discussions. For example, to ensure the protection of its economic and geopolitical interests, the USA has put in place naval patrols to counter the Chinese military presence in the area. However, such actions have intensified disagreements as the USA continues to lament about freedom of access, while not being a member of the UNCLOS.
Furthermore, the ever-changing political dynamics of the individual countries make it virtually impossible to expect the implementation of a consistent policy that reduces tensions in the South China Sea. Given such factors, it is unclear how each country is likely to proceed, especially as continuing developments in the region remain Asia’s most threatening flashpoint.
Aditya Bhattacharya
December 27, 2018
source https://indiaoutbound.org/the-south-china-sea-conundrum-competing-territorial-claims/
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