Global Interest/ Consequences
Background
The South China Sea is a major shipping route that also holds massive amounts of resources like natural gas, untapped oil, and tons of fishing potential near the islands. Throughout history, many claims have been made over who has sovereignty over the sea and its resources. China has made many of these claims, which has instigated competition from other countries that also border the sea like Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines. China continues to stay with their position, being that international law supposedly allows them to prevent foreign militaries from conducting any type of activity that would allow them to gain intelligence in their exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which is the boundary created by the UN that allows countries to use the resources in the water surrounding their territory. However, the United States does not agree with China on this. They believe that under the United Nations Convention of Law of The Sea (UNCLOS), the claimant countries should all have access to free navigation without having to notify any other countries of their activity there.
The Nine Dash Line
In 2009, China submitted a map to the UN with a nine dash line surrounding the majority of the South China Sea. It shows a complete disregard for the EEZ’s that have been set by UNCLOS, giving only a few hundred kilometres of sea to the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei. Almost all the coastal countries have signed and agreed to UNCLOS, but there are still many debates over its interpretation, especially over the Spratly and Paracel Islands. China says that historically, the islands were integral parts of the Chinese nation, and they believe this justifies their claims to the sea. However, any historic rights were extinguished when UNCLOS was put into place in 1996. Vietnam also strongly disputes China’s claim, saying that they have ruled actively in the islands since the 17th century and have documents to prove it.
Opposition and Support
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague issued a long awaited ruling against the claims of China and in favour of the Philippines. There are a select number of countries that have declared support or opposition of the ruling, and many others make neutral statements about the situation without addressing the ruling or calling for compliance towards it. Just before the ruling was announced, Beijing made a diplomatic effort to try and convince countries around the world to announce support for China’s position on the issue. The day before the ruling, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that over 60 countries supported them. However, when the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) investigated this, they found that only 31 countries had publicly voiced their support, 26 remained publicly silent despite China’s claim, and 4 that denied any support at all. Those who called for the ruling to be respected include Australia, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, United States, United Kingdom, and Vietnam.
The United States has had an especially active role in the conflict compared to the other countries that support the ruling. They have maintained a pretty neutral role in the matter for a while, with their main goal being to ensure that the trade of goods and movement of militaries is able to continue to flow through the sea. Escorting Philippines ships with the protection of their navy is an example of one of the ways that the US has tried to exercise their role as a peacekeeper in this conflict. However, in 2019 they assured the Philippines that if they were attacked in the South China Sea, the US would come to their defence. This without a doubt increases the tensions between the US and China, adding onto the fact that they are already in the middle of a trade war.
Mass Construction
Over the years, China has been increasingly active in the region. They have started to build on existing islands, and even create new ones by moving sediment from the floor of the sea onto existing reefs. 3200 acres of new land has been created by China in the Spratly Islands since 2013. The marine life and ecosystems of these reefs are destroyed when they are used as foundations for new islands. As well, they have gone so far as to create military buildings, airstrips and port facilities on multiple islands. This construction has caused the other countries involved to be nervous, and has put pressure on the ‘peacekeeping’ countries like the US to take action. Multiple news sources, as well as former US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, frequently compare China’s actions in the sea to Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Tillerson even refers to it as “a red line crossed”.
Here is a link to an interactive visual for the progression of island building: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/30/world/asia/what-china-has-been-building-in-the-south-china-sea.html?module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=World&action=keypress®ion=FixedLeft&pgtype=Multimedia
Flaming Tensions
Over the years, China has been increasingly active in the region. They have started to build on existing islands, and even create new ones by moving sediment from the floor of the sea onto reefs. Marine life and ecosystems of these reefs are destroyed when they are used as foundations for new islands. As well, they have gone so far as to create military buildings, airstrips and port facilities on multiple islands (Stashwick, 2019). This construction has caused the other countries involved to be nervous, and has put pressure on the ‘peacekeeping’ countries like the US and Canada to take action. The former US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, compared the actions of China to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, calling it “a red line crossed” (Stashwick, 2019).
Most recently, China’s military announced that they had “expelled” a US navy ship from the sea in April 2020, claiming that it illegally entered China’s territory. However, the US denies that anyone had impacted their “successful freedom of navigation operations” (NBC, 2020).
Another incident that occurred in April of this year was the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat after it had been crashed into by a Chinese surveillance vessel, close to the Paracel Islands. Vietnam filed an official complaint about this incident, which China denied and said that they were illegally in the area and had refused to leave (NBC, 2020). This is just one example of the monthly incidents that have been occurring for decades. Following these incidents, the US military announced that beginning April 13th, they would be partnering with the Australian navy for operations in the sea.
Coronavirus Pandemic
Many countries are concerned that China is taking advantage of the preoccupation of the Coronavirus pandemic, as they seem to be increasingly active in the region. It seems they have kept their long term goals in mind while the rest of the world focused elsewhere. A spokesperson from China urges the United States to focus on their handling of the pandemic and do more “useful” things with their efforts, including to “immediately stop military operations that are not conducive to regional security”. This raises many concerns about China’s plans in the South China Sea while the attention from other countries pauses.
Securitization is another major concern regarding China and the current pandemic. The process of securitizing an issue typically involves informing the public about it, and then overly alarming them about the severity of the threat (Stivas & Ross Smith, 2020). At the beginning of the outbreak, China prioritized the containment of information about the virus rather than the containment of the virus itself. This has had a serious impact on the situation that every country has been facing for the past few months. Stories like Dr. Li trying to alert people of the severity of this virus and being silenced by the authorities are mind blowing to me. It will be really interesting in the future to see how the rest of the world handles this, and if they will finally confront this rising superpower, China, and hold them accountable. No other country in the world would be able to get away with implementing the hyper-securitizing ‘emergency’ measures that China has. Drones, facial recognition cameras, tracking devices in phones, and apps that control if you’re allowed on public transit are just a few of the known measures that have been taken (Stivas & Ross Smith, 2020). These have given China information and control over every single person in their country. Many people are viewing this with concern over the extortion of power and control that seems to be occurring. It’s difficult to confirm if this is actually lowering their case numbers, because of the lack of reliability and dishonesty of their government. It’s interesting to see what will happen when the virus is no longer a threat, if China will remove these measures. Even if they do, how will citizens be able to trust that their privacy has been restored after a compromise like this? With a power hungry government like China’s, it’s difficult to believe that they will ever be able to let go of this control (Stivas & Ross Smith, 2020).
References:
Pesek, W. (August 22, 2017). Making Sense of The South China Sea Dispute. Forbes
Global Conflict Tracker. (June 10, 2020). Territorial Disputes in The South China Sea. Council on Foreign Relations.
Trang, P. (October 22, 2019). South China Sea: The Disputes and Southeast Asia’s Culture of International Law. The Diplomat.
BBC. (July 12, 2016). Why is The South China Sea Contentious?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-13748349
Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. (June 16, 2020). Arbitration Support Tracker.
https://amti.csis.org/arbitration-support-tracker/
Stashwick, S. (August 19, 2019). China’s South China Sea Militarization Has Peaked. Foreign Policy.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/08/19/chinas-south-china-sea-militarization-has-peaked/
Suliman, A. (April 30, 2020). China Says it Expelled a US Navy Vessel From South China Sea. NBC.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china-says-it-expelled-u-s-navy-vessel-south-china-n1196261
Beech, H. (April 21, 2020). US Warships Enter Disputed Waters of South China Sea as Tensions with China Escalate. New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/21/world/asia/coronavirus-south-china-sea-warships.html
Stivas, D & Ross Smith, N. (March 11, 2020). Coronavirus: China’s Attempts to Contain the Outbreak Has Given it New Levels of State Power. The Conversation.
