The Great Wall was erected by Chinese emperors to keep the “barbarians” out, meaning everybody but them. That mind-set of being a unique race had remained with their political leaders, sketching the 9-dash line, the 21st century equivalent of the wall, to encompass the whole of the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea). But unlike the Great Wall of China that measures 8,850 kilometers (5,500 miles), the 9-dash line was drawn apparently on a whim, without any reference points or coordinates.
That, according to experts, is one of the weakest links in the Chinese claim to territories in the South China Sea and would not pass muster before the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). The convention defines the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world’s oceans, establishing guidelines for commerce, the environment and the management of marine natural resources.
The Chinese know their 9-dash line rests on shaky grounds. They vehemently reject the Philippine challenge to bring their claim before an international body like the United Nations or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). They would like a unilateral approach, talking individually to claimants to the islands in the South China Sea, knowing the weaknesses of each individual state.
The South China Sea is defined as “a marginal sea” that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around 3,500,000 sq km (1,400,000 sq mi, according to Wikipedia. The area’s importance largely results from one-third of the world’s shipping transiting through its waters, and that it is believed to hold huge oil and gas reserves beneath its seabed. It is south of mainland China and the island of Taiwan, west of the Philippines, northwest of Sabah (Malaysia), Sarawak (Malaysia) and Brunei, north of Indonesia, north east of the Malay peninsula (Malaysia) and Singapore, and east of Vietnam.
China claims practically the whole South China Sea, while six other countries—the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Taiwan and Malaysia—claiming parts of the sea, including islands, atolls, shoals and reefs. The disputes stretch to the maritime boundary in the Gulf of Tonkin as well as maritime boundaries off the coasts of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and the Philippines. There is a further dispute in the waters near Indonesia’s Natuna Islands. Additionally, there are disputes among the various island chains of the South China Sea basin, including the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands. The various claimants wanted a piece of the action, such as fishing rights and access to marine resource, potential exploitation of suspected hydrocarbons under the seabed and strategic control of crucial shipping lanes.
In a recent commentary, the “Australian” said that officials in Beijing and state media justify China’s claim to the territories in the South China Sea by pointing to “ample historical facts and evidence” about the area, while remaining ambiguous on what these are. The article said the claim was formulated in 1947 by the then-Nationalist government in a map with a nine-section, U-shaped demarcation encompassing the Paracel Islands east of Vietnam, the Spratly Islands west of the Philippines and other uninhabited features, such as the Scarborough Shoal. It is believed to be the first time that the “nine-dash line” was printed on an official Chinese map.
Ten academics in China and Taiwan were asked to provide “a legal explanation of the U-shape line” within a year, Beijing’s state media have reported. China hopes that ancient maps and historical records would set the record straight, but their attempts to convince its six rivals through academic research may prove fruitless, according to experts. “China’s claims are very dubious because you can make old maps say what you want them to say,” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, head of the department of Government and International Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. He was quoted by foreign news agencies as having said China’s only control of any of the islands came via maritime skirmishes over the past 40 years. In 1974 during a naval battle with Vietnam, China took over the Paracels and in 1988 some of the Spratlys after the Johnson South Reef Skirmish, which resulted in 70 Vietnamese deaths.
Beijing also gained control of the Mischief Reef in the Spratlys in mid-1994, when it built structures on the island that it claimed were for its fishermen. Despite vehement protest, Manila backed down over the Mischief Reef (Philippine maps name it Panganiban Reef), but was more assertive earlier this year when the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard had an extended standoff with Chinese patrol vessels at Scarborough Shoal, which Philippine maps have shown as either Bajo de Masinloc or Panatag Shoal. This shoal is well within the Philippines’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
Zhang Haiwen, deputy director of the China Institute for Marine Affairs, recently told the state media that distance has “absolutely no basis in international law and judicial practice”—using Britain’s Channel Islands, less than 12 nautical miles from the French coast, as an example. Jia Qingguo, professor at Peking University’s School of International Studies, said China was merely following an example set by the West. “The United States has Guam in Asia, which is very far away from the US, and the French have islands in the South Pacific, so it is nothing new,” adding, “the geographical location of the island does not necessarily indicate to which country it belongs.”
Qingguo is way behind the time. What he pointed out occured during the time of colonization, when the mighty and highly technologically advanced countries took advantage of the weak, when “might is right” governed most policies. Today, we have the United Nations to settle disputes. And China is a prominent member of the UN. And the reality of the present was expressed by Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, who told the future military top brass at the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City to “stand up to protect what is ours.” He said the country includes parts of the Spratly island chain in the South China Sea [of which the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone was renamed West Philippine Sea], as well as the Scarborough Shoal. “We have a clear mandate from [President Aquino]. What is ours is ours, and we should stand up to protect what is ours,” said del Rosario. “Live up to your living commitment of courage, integrity and loyalty. By doing so, rather than being forced to accept that might is right, we will instead demonstrate that right is might,” he added.
Meanwhile, Edward N. Luttwak’s book, The Rise of China vs The Logic of Strategy, says Chinese policies in Asia risk economic retaliation by other countries. Luttwak, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies disputed claims that given US policies, China can accomplish the “peaceful rise” its leaders promised. He said that since the 2008 recession, Beijing’s international policies have hardened because it sees the US as in decline. Examples of what he called “premature assertiveness” are everywhere, from China’s trade policies to its bullying of Vietnam, Japan and the Philippines over disputed islands. He said Beijing’s claim to the entire South China Sea was “an outrageous power grab.”
Luttwak added that this rapid economic and military growth and global influence are incompatible because they are bound to provoke resistance. Already China’s neighbors are seeking new forms of collective security designed to contain her. Vietnam and the Philippines have begun developing closer ties with the US. He also called China’s move “autistic” for Beijing’s insensitivity and overbearing style. Luttwak said while other countries can suffer from the same disease, China’s position as the world’s most populous nation and isolated historical development make her especially prone to the illness. He added that he does not see war as solution, saying that a China that grows at anything like current rates would not have to be aggressive to impose its will. Luttwak, however, warned the US against over-reliance on military countermeasures, which could further stimulate China’s growth and defense spending.
China’s supposed mistake is that its unilateral moves had provoked its greatest rival, the United States, which considers the China Sea as an extension of the Pacific Ocean, to respond to a potential threat. Lately, it was announced that the latest warships and other high-tech weapons are being deployed to the Asia Pacific as part of Washington’s strategic shift to the region. “The Pentagon will send P-8 submarine-hunting aircraft, cruise missiles, Virginia-class submarines, coastal combat ships and F-35 fighter jets to Asian ports and bases in coming years, an unnamed senior official told reporters, saying that the Pacific theater will get the newest weapons systems first. This Asian “pivot” by the Pentagon came after decades of ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, reflecting concern over China’s growing military power and its assertive stance in territorial disputes with its neighbors. “The United States already plans to deploy more than half of its fleet to the Asia Pacific and to station four littoral combat ships—speedy new vessels designed to operate near coastlines—for rotational deployments in Singapore,” newspaper reports said.
The reports added that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta revealed that the stealthy F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is still in development, could be deployed to the Iwakuni air station in Japan’s Yamaguchi prefecture by 2017, while also providing Japan with another powerful X-band radar to bolster its missile defenses, a move announced in September. America’s military was triggered by deep concern over Beijing’s recent actions in the South China Sea, referring to tough new maritime rules from China’s Hainan province, a controversial map in new Chinese passports and allegations that Chinese fishing boats cut the seismic cables of a Vietnamese geological survey vessel, other news reports said. Recently, Hainan province adopted new policy, allowing local police to board and expel foreign ships entering waters it considers under Chinese jurisdiction. Beijing infuriated its neighbors by issuing new passports incorporating the 9-dash line map. Two countries, Vietnam and the Philippines, countered by not honoring the passports, stamping immigration records on a separate piece of paper instead.
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