Rival claims to the South China Sea have for decades been a
source of tension in the region. Below are key facts on the sea and the
competing claims:
Geography
The South China Sea covers more than 3,000,000 square kilometers
(1,200,000 square miles) on the western edge of the Pacific, with China
and Taiwan to the north, the Philippines to the east, Borneo Island to
the south, and Vietnam to the west.
It contains
hundreds of small islands, islets and rocks, most of which are
uninhabited. The Paracel and Spratly island chains contain the biggest
features.
Significance
The sea is the main maritime link between the Pacific and Indian
oceans, giving it enormous trade and military value. Most of the
seaborne trade, including of oil and gas, between Europe and the Middle
East and East Asia passes through the sea.
Major unexploited oil and gas deposits are believed to lie under the seabed.
The sea is home to some of world's biggest coral reefs and, with marine
life being depleted close to coasts, it is becoming increasingly
important as a source of fish to feed growing populations.
Claimants
China and Taiwan both claim nearly all of the sea, while Vietnam, the
Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei each have often-overlapping claims to
parts of it.
China's claim is based on a
historical map of "nine dashes" that approaches the coast of other
countries. But rival countries complain the dashes are kept
deliberately vague so that no one knows China's exact claims.
Name
Beijing and most other countries know it as the South China Sea. Hanoi
calls it the East Sea and Manila officially refers to it as the West
Philippine Sea.
Occupation/control
China has held all of the Paracel islands since a conflict with South
Vietnam in 1974 that left 53 Vietnamese military personnel dead.
Vietnam is believed to occupy or control more than 20 of the Spratly islands and reefs, the most of any claimant.
Taiwan has a garrison controlled by its coastguard on Itu Aba island,
which is called Taiping in Chinese and is the largest in the Spratlys.
Taiwan announced in July it would deploy longer-range artillery there.
The Philippines occupies nine of the Spratlys, including Thitu island,
the second largest in the area. The Philippines has a military presence
and civilians living on Thitu, which it calls Pagasa.
China occupies at least seven of the Spratlys, including Johnson Reef,
which it gained after a naval battle with Vietnam in 1988.
Malaysia occupies three of the Spratlys. The most significant presence
is on Swallow Reef, called Layang Layang Island in Malaysia, where it
has a naval post and a diving resort.
Brunei does not occupy any feature but claims a submerged reef and a submerged bank in the Spratlys.
Tensions – China/Vietnam
Aside from the 1974 battle for the Paracels, the only other major
conflict occurred when Vietnam and China fought a naval battle on
Johnson Reef in the Spratlys in 1988 that left 70 Vietnamese military
personnel dead.
However, Chinese naval vessels have fired at other times on Vietnamese fishing boats in the area.
In 2011, Vietnam accused Chinese marine surveillance vessels of cutting
an oil survey ship's exploration cables, sparking nationalist protests
in Vietnamese cities.
In June this year,
Vietnam passed a law proclaiming its jurisdiction over all of the
Paracel and Spratly islands, triggering Chinese protests.
About the same time China announced it had created a new city, Sansha,
on one of the Paracel islands, which would administer Chinese rule over
its South China Sea domain.
Tensions – China/Philippines
In 1995, China began building structures on Mischief Reef, within the Philippines' claimed exclusive economic zone.
Tensions between the two nations started to ratchet up significantly in
March 2011, when Chinese vessels harassed a Philippine-chartered gas
exploration vessel at Reed Bank.
The
Philippines then accused the Chinese of a pattern of intimidation,
including firing warning shots at Filipino fishermen and laying buoys
in Philippine claimed islets.
A standoff between Chinese and Philippine vessels that began in April this year at Scarborough Shoal further inflamed tensions.
In June, Philippine Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario accused China of "duplicity" and "intimidation."
Diplomacy
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China adopted
a non-binding "declaration of conduct" in 2002 to discourage hostile
acts.
But attempts to turn it into a legally binding "code of conduct" have failed.
The dispute has created divisions within ASEAN. A meeting of foreign
ministers in July ended for the first time in the bloc's 45-year
history without a joint statement because of infighting over the issue.
Meeting host Cambodia, a China ally, rejected a Philippine push for the statement to take a harder line against the Chinese. — Agence France-Presse
No comments:
Post a Comment