China sends more ships to patrol disputed islands

ASEANMay 19th, 2009 - 22:51:15

China claims not only the islands in the South China Sea, but also a vast body of water surrounding the islands, a claim that has nothing to do with the islands themselves. In fact, China’s maritime claim is made over and against the rightful sovereignty of the Southeast Asian countries who are entitled to their exclusive economic zones (EEZ) in accordance with the stipulations of UNCLOS. However, China seems to be of the view that the countries in Southeast Asia cannot be entitled to their exclusive economic zones because they overlap with China’s jurisdiction over parts of the sea. If China gets its way, all of the Southeast Asian countries surrounding the South China Sea are left with only about 20 percent of the sea to share among themselves while China alone controls a whopping 80 percent.

Looking at China’s claim, one will see that the U-shaped line drawn by China in the South China Sea has no integral relationship to the claim of sovereignty over the islands. It neither delimitates the 12 nautical mile territorial sea nor the 200 nautical mile EEZ around the islands. It is merely an arbitrary line that China decided to draw in the South China Sea since 1947, long before UNCLOS was ever established.

China is quite clever in claiming both the islands and jurisdiction over this area of water. If China manages to get the islands, it will be guaranteed at least the territorial sea. It will, of course, fight to get at least a EEZ around the islands (although claiming EEZ around these mostly tiny, uninhabited features that cannot support an economy in their own is preposterous). On the other hand, if the islands or the EEZ fails to be achieved, China still has the water marked by the U-shaped line as insurance. The grounds for this claim is even more preposterous than the claim of EEZ around features that China stole from its neighbors. But for a country driven by the need for natural resources and an unstoppable desire to recapture the former glorious past, no reasoning is too absurd.

vietwill.org

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