South China Sea Conflict

• A 300-metre-long barrier was installed at the entrance to the lagoon at the Scarborough Shoal, located about 200 km off the Philippines.

• Philippines claimed the barricade was in violation of international law and its sovereignty.

• Since 2012, China and the Philippines have been embroiled in a tussle over the Scarborough Shoal — both lay claim to it but sovereignty has never been established and it remains effectively under Beijing’s control. The fresh controversy has once again brought the South China Sea dispute to the forefront.

• The South China Sea is situated just south of the Chinese mainland and is bordered by the countries of Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

• The countries bordering the SCS have bickered over territorial control in the sea for centuries, but in recent years tensions have soared to new heights.
• Particularly China is claiming sweeping sovereignty rights over the sea.

• China, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.
• Indirectly involved – USA & Japan

• The South China Sea is one of the most strategically critical maritime areas and China eyes its control to assert more power over the region.
• In 1947, China issued a map with the so-called “nine-dash line”.
• China has also tried to stop other nations from conducting any military or economic operation without its consent
• China declared that the sea falls under its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
• China’s sweeping claims, however, have been widely contested by other countries.
• In response, China has physically increased the size of islands or created new islands altogether in the sea, according to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
• China has backed its expansive claims with island-building and naval patrols.

1. Constructing artificial islands by pouring the sands
2. Constructing ports
3. Establishing military installations
4. Constructing airports
5. Created 20 outposts in Paracel islands and 27 outposts in Spratly islands
6. Militarising Woody island by deploying fighter jets, cruise missiles and a radar system.

1. Increasing its military activity and naval presence in South Asia
2. Providing weapons and aid to China’s opponents.

• Japan, has no direct stake in the South China Sea. However, it is also providing ships and military equipment to claimants like Vietnam and the Philippines.

• Philippines, which invokes its geographical proximity to the Spratly Islands as the main basis of its claim for part of the grouping.
• Both the Philippines and China also lay claim to the Scarborough Shoal (known as Huangyan Island in China) – a little more than 100 miles (160km) from the Philippines and 500 miles from China.

1. 11 billion barrels of oil
2. 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in deposits
3. Rich fishing grounds — a major source of income for millions of people across the region.
4. More than half of the world’s fishing vessels operate in this area.
5. The sea is a crucial trade route. Over 21% of global trade, amounting to $3.37 trillion, transited through these waters in 2016.

• The line essentially encircles China’s claimed waters and islands of the South China Sea — as much as 90% of the sea has been claimed by China.
• The nine-dash line demarcates China’s territorial claims in the sea on Chinese maps.
• The line comprises nine dashes which extends hundreds of miles south and east from its most southerly province of Hainan.

• Initially China has created the “eleven-dash line” in1947 under the rule of the nationalist Kuomintang party,
• But in 1953, the Chinese Communist Party -led government removed “the portion encompassing the Gulf of Tonkin, simplifying the border to nine dashes.
• So now it is known as the ‘Nine dash line’

• The line runs as far as 2,000 km from the Chinese mainland to within a few hundred kilometres of the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.

• China’s claim on the waters and islands within the boundary is based on its “historical maritime rights”. However, the country has never clearly stated the line coordinates and the line runs many miles beyond what is allowed under the United Nations treaty on maritime territorial issues, which China has signed.

• Scarborough Shoal, also known as Huangyan Island.
• While it comes under the Philippines’ EEZ,
• Beijing claims that the records show “China’s sailors discovered Huangyan Island 2,000 years ago and cite extensive records of visits, mapping expeditions and habitation of the shoal from the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) right through to the modern period.”

• Similarly, China says it has centuries-old ties with the Paracel and Spratly island chains as they were once an integral part of the Chinese nation.
• But Vietnam disputes the claim, saying it has actively ruled over both the Paracels and the Spratlys since the 17th Century — and has the documents to prove it.

• In 2016, the Philippines took China to an international tribunal pertaining to the dispute over the Scarborough Shoal, the tribunal in its ruling largely rejected the nine-dash line and said, “China had broken international law by endangering Philippine ships and damaging the marine environment”

• Although the tribunal’s judgement was binding, there was no enforcement mechanism. China boycotted the proceedings, claiming the tribunal had no jurisdiction and that it would ignore any decision.

• ASEAN might find a way to tackle the issue.  Due to internal conflicts, the group has largely failed to do so

• Association of Southeast Asian Nations— a 10-member regional grouping that comprises Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia

The most serious trouble in recent decades has flared between Vietnam and China, and there have also been stand-offs between the Philippines and China.

1. In 1974, the Chinese seized the Paracels from Vietnam, killing more than 70 Vietnamese troops.
2. In 1988, the two sides clashed in the Spratlys, with Vietnam again coming off worse, losing about 60 sailors.
3. In early 2012, China and the Philippines engaged in a lengthy maritime stand-off, accusing each other of intrusions in the Scarborough Shoal.
4. Unverified claims that the Chinese navy sabotaged two Vietnamese exploration operations in late 2012 led to large anti-China protests on Vietnam’s streets.
5. In January 2013, Manila said it was taking China to a UN tribunal under the auspices of the UN Convention on the Laws of the Sea, to challenge its claims.
6. In May 2014, the introduction by China of a drilling rig into waters near the Paracel Islands led to multiple collisions between Vietnamese and Chinese ships.
7. In June 2019, Manila accused a Chinese trawler of ramming a Filipino fishing boat with 22 people on board. The Filipinos were rescued by the Vietnamese.
8. In early 2023, the Philippines said Chinese vessels have been shining lasers at Filipino boats to temporarily blind their crew. They also accuse the Chinese of dangerous manoeuvres by sailing too close or blocking the Filipinos’ path

• Claimant countries have been banning films depicting contested territorial claims in the South China Sea.
• Most recently, Vietnam banned the upcoming Barbie film in July 2023 – over its portrayal of a map that includes the nine-dash line.
• Korean pop super group Black Pink also came under fire in Vietnam in July 2023 after their concert promoter’s website featured a map with Beijing’s nine-dash line.

• Therefore, there is a palpable fear that the South China Sea dispute can soon become the next global conflict, with grave consequences.