disputes in the South China Sea.

Description

Read pages 530-531 about the disputes in the South China Sea. Then, go online an find a recent (within the past year) news article about something that has happened in the dispute. Describe what is happening, what may yet happen, and what you think about it.

required :one point – reference the relevant section of our textbookone point – reference a relevant news articleone point – include your thoughts and opinionsone point – include a citation to the news article you used (website, title, author, date)one point – length; at least one full page of text, double-spaced.one point – grammar and organizationone point – submitting the assignment correctly in Blackboard (see the instructions above)one point – cutting and pasting more than 15% of your paper.variable – lateness; one point per day

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REALM
2-
n
and Indonesia) wanting the United States to play a more
prominent regional role.
CS
e
Geopolitics in the South China Sea
If China’s economic role in Southeast Asia is often viewed
with mixed feelings, its recent geopolitical and military
forays are increasingly met with indignation and opposi-
tion. Much of this revolves around China’s maritime ambi-
tions and its claims in the South China Sea. Since 2009, the
Chinese government has circulated the so-called nine-dash
YAGOT ALCAPARUOSAVIHO
ongitude East 115° of Greenwich
120°
TAIWAN
Tropic of Cancer
Xianggang
(Hong Kong)
Luzon
States and Boundaries
531
to
date back to 1949, the year the PRC was founded. The
‘nine dashes’ refer to the delimitation of Chinese claims
words of one high-ranking Chinese official in 2012, “China
as seafloor zones believed to be rich in deposits of oil and
CG
ment communications, is crucial to the future of China
controls many islands in this body of water, and in 2012 it
In a recent joint military exercise, Filipino and Amer-
ican troops enacted the recapture of a small Philippine is-
that effectively cover most of the Sea (Fig. 10A-8). In the
land from ‘hostile forces.’ The United States already had a
mutual defense agreement with the Philippines; in 2012, it
does not want all of the South China Sea, it just wants
initiated joint military training with Vietnamese forces as
China says are
80 percent.” That 80 percent includes some 40 islands that
well as signing a new military pact with Thailand. China is
illegally occupied by other countries as well
never mentioned by name as the hypothetical enemy in
natural gas.
these exercises, but nobody is under any delusions as to
where the threat to free access to these waters comes from.
The South China Sea, according to official
The South China Sea has quickly become a global geopo-
govern- litical hotspot in this decade, and is certain to be closely
monitored for the foreseeable future.
as a growing maritime nation.” Indeed, the PRC already
expanded its military facilities on Yongxing (largest of the
Paracel Islands), more than 200 miles southeast of Hainan
STATES AND BOUNDARIES
Island, with the declared purpose of exercising sovereignty
Although we tend to think of boundaries as lines on the
across the South China Sea. The Sea contains about 250
map or fences on the ground, the legal definition of a
islands, most of them lifeless rocks inundated at high tide,
boundary goes much farther than that. In fact, boundaries
as well as nunerous shoals that are permanently submerged.
are actually invisible vertical planes extending above the
Even though the Chinese-controlled islands are inhabited
ground into the air and below the ground into soil and
by only a few hundred people
, the PRC’s assertion is mainly
rock (or water). Where these planes intersect with the
about sovereignty over surface waters and automatic own-
ground, they form lines—the lines on the map.
.
ership of oil and gas reserves that may be buried in the
A useful way to think about boundaries is to regard
seabed below them.
them as contracts between states. Such contracts take the
The disputes and conflicts concerning territorial wa-
form of treaties that contain the definition of every segment
of the boundaries between them. These written definitions
ters are numerous and complicated, but the most impor-
tant concern: (1) the Paracel Islands, claimed by China,
refer to actual landforms of the terrain through which the
Taiwan, and Vietnam; (2) the Spratly Islands, claimed by
boundary lies—streams, larger water bodies, hills, ridges.
China, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei; and (3) the Scar-
Next, surveyors translate these descriptions into lines on
borough Shoal, claimed by China, Taiwan, and the Philip-
large-scale maps that show every detail in the landscape .
pines (Fig. 10A-8). Not surprisingly, ASEAN has been This process of delimitation creates the official boundary
agreed to by the parties, and we see the results in generalized
hopelessly divided on these geopolitical controversies, with
form on atlas maps. Sometimes neighboring states start ar
Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines as well as Malaysia
guing over the treaty language or the outcome of delimita
strongly countering Chinese claims; Cambodia and Laos
tion, which can result in armed conflict (as occurred be
(tacitly) supporting China; and Singapore and Indonesia
tween Sudan and South Sudan in 2012). To avoid suc
trying to steer a more neutral, diplomatic course. Recent
problems, states mark certain stretches of their borders wit
ASEAN summit meetings have ended in open disagree-
fences, walls, or other barriers on the cultural landscape,
ment. Interestingly, Vietnam and the Philippines have
process referred to as demarcation. Even though this clean
sought a closer relationship with the United States, clearly
expresses a state’s claims, it does not always resolve t
in search of a counterweight to Chinese leverage.
Whereas the United States has declared its neutrality
on the matter of who owns the islands and shoals, it has
Classifying Boundaries
emphasized the paramount importance of free and open
international access to the waters of the South China Sea. Boundaries have many functions, and to understand t
Why? Because this is one of the most essential oceanic trade
(and to learn why some boundaries tend to produce m
trouble than others) it is helpful to view them in a categ
corridors in the world. Think not only of the major ship-
ping routes within the Southeast Asian realm that intercon-
ical perspective. Some boundaries conform to elonga
features in the natural landscape (mountain ranges, riv
nect its chief ports of Manila, Singapore, Saigon, Bangkok,
and have physiographic origins. Others coincide with
and Jakarta, but also of all the intercontinental trade coming
toric breaks or transitions in the cultural landscape and
sometimes referred to as anthropogeographic
, or more
cently as ethnocultural boundaries. And as any world
litical map shows, many boundaries are simply stra
lines, defined by endpoint coordinates with no refer
the
to physical or human landscape features; these geom
dispute.
from the west—from Europe and Africa as well as South
Singapore Straits and then across the South China Sea on
Way to China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan (not to
and Southwest Asia—that passes through the Malacca and
mention all the seaborne cargoes that are transported along
this route in the opposite direction).
oines,
a
ne a
he South China Sea. Since 2009
Chinese government has circulated the so-called nine-
25°
105°
110°
சக்தி
VA
Longitude East 115° of Greenwich
120°
CHINA
TAIWAN
Tropic of Cancer
Hanoi
Xianggang
(Hong Kong)
Luzon
20°
Strait
LAOS
mar น
Gulf
of
Tonkin Hainan
Paracel Islands
(Administered by China,
claimed by Vietnam)
Yongxing I.
THAILAND
V | E | N A M
15°
Scarborough
Shoal
Manila
South
China
CAMBODIA
Sea
PHILIPPINES
Mischief
Reef
10°
Ho Chi
Minh Cit
(Saigon)
Spratly
Islands
Sulu Sea
“NINE-DASHED LINE”
15°
BRUNEI
Celebes
Sea
MA LA Y
A Y, SI A
SINGAPORE
– 0°
MARITIME CLAIMS IN
THE SOUTH CHINA SEA
Brunei
IN
DO N E S A
China
Malaysia
Philippines
Vietnam
0
100 200 300 Kilometers
Java Sea
100
200 Nautical Miles
(Note: Taiwanese claims not shown)
5°
FIGURE 10A-8
© H. J. de Blij, P. O. Muller, J. Nijman, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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