Territorial Disputes Over The South China Sea
- theglobalobserver
- Nov 21, 2023
- 2 min read
By: Aslihan Yilmaz
The conflict in the South China Sea is a complex and ongoing struggle that has yet to be resolved.
In essence, the dispute arises from the 9 dash line that China has drawn around Spratly, Paracel, and Pratas Island groups claiming ownership of the marked territory. However, the extent of the ownership is highly debated. Whether China has full sovereignty or solely the right to benefit from the lands, water, and seabed is up for debate. The disagreement on the rights to the territory between China and the neighboring states (Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia) has led to what we call today the South China Sea dispute.
The 9 dash line, also known as the U shaped line, has been inherited from its predecessor government (CCP). The official map was produced in 1947 that denoted the boundaries around the Spratly, Paracel, and Pratas Island groups and the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) which also hugged the coastlines of the neighboring countries.
In 2009, Beijing officially submitted their map to the UN - which included the U shaped line. However, the map itself does not hold any water in international law which is dictated by the UNCLOS. China claims sovereignty of the area using their historical heritage as the major reasoning, however, China’s claims still fail to clear up the ambiguity of the exact rights they wish to have over the 9 dash line.
The question whether China claims the area inside the 9 dash line or ownership of the resources still remains nebulous. If China claims sovereignty of the territorial waters, then they would assert that they have the right to deny foreign vessels from entering those waters. However, this would be hard to determine as it lacks clear coordinates.
Bibliography
BBC News (2023). Why Is the South China Sea contentious? BBC News. [online] 12 Jul. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-13748349.
Roy, D. (2013). Return of the Dragon: Rising China and Regional Security. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 35(3), p.453. doi:https://doi.org/10.1355/cs35-3h.
Tsirbas, M. (2016). What Does the Nine-Dash Line Actually Mean? [online] The Diplomat. Available at: https://thediplomat.com/2016/06/what-does-the-nine-dash-line-actually-mean/.
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