The South China Sea is one of the most disputed areas in the world. Beijing claims most of China’s southern waters, but neighboring countries also claim sovereignty over parts of the sea and islands. With the visit of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan, China began military maneuvers in the waters surrounding the island. These operations are aimed at “resolutely defending the national sovereignty and territorial integrity” of China, despite the fact that the waters are in the South China Sea, where Taiwan also has demands. The conflict has been alive for a long time, but the most important events have taken place in the last decade. Apart from China, other countries such as Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia, demand their maritime zones. It is a key area, since a third of the world’s maritime transport passes through these waters, as it is a passageway between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. It is estimated that the value of the trade routes that pass through the South China Sea transport goods with a value that can reach 5.1 billion dollars. The 11,000 million barrels of unexploited oil and the 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas estimated to exist in that area represent another decisive factor in the territorial dispute. Desktop code Image for mobile, amp and app Mobile code AMP code 1160 APP code In these waters south of China there are many islands. The most important are the Paracel and the Spratly, although most are rock islets. In addition to piling sand on existing reefs, China has built ports, military installations, and airstrips, most notably on the Paracel and Spratly Islands, where it has twenty-seven outposts, respectively. China has militarized Woody Island with the deployment of fighter jets, cruise missiles and a radar system. It is important to emphasize that other countries such as the Philippines or Vietnam have also built on these islands, although to a lesser extent than China. «For Taiwan, the islands of the South China Sea are part of the territory of the Republic of China (Taiwan) José María Liu Ambassador of Taiwan in Spain After the Second World War, the former Chinese nationalist government marked a line, without coordinates exact, in which they claimed their sovereignty over those waters. This line covers 90% of the waters and is known as the ‘line of nine points’. However, in 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague dismissed the Chinese historical claim and classified many of the islands as rocks, ruling that the historical rights claimed by Beijing to claim power over the South China Sea “have no legal base”. The ruling is binding, but the court has no executive powers. In addition, Beijing did not recognize it. President Xi Jinping said that the “sovereign territorial and maritime rights” in these waters were not going to be affected by this ruling “in any way”, so China went ahead with its military projects on the islands. Tawán, for his part, in the words of his ambassador to Spain, José María Liu, Taiwan’s ambassador to Spain, comments that his government “firmly opposes any attempt by a claimant state to resolve disputes through intimidation, coercion or force. Also in response to China’s assertive presence in the disputed territory, Japan has sold ships and military equipment to the Philippines and Vietnam to enhance their maritime security capabilities and deter Chinese aggression. The role of the United States There is no conflict in which the United States does not get involved, and this was not going to be less. They insist on their right to navigate freely through international waters in areas that Beijing considers theirs, where they have already received threats from the Chinese army, considering that they had entered their air defense identification zone. The United States continues to send warships to the area, which China considers “a show of force that is not conducive to peace in the area,” in the words of Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. The presence of Nancy Pelosi in Taiwan has caused Beijing to carry out military maneuvers in waters very close to the island, generating nervousness in the White House. Some of them are taking place in the South China Sea, which will further increase the tension between the countries that are part of this conflict. The United States does not want to allow China to expand its territory through Taiwan and the Paracel and Spratly Islands, as well as all those islands of Chinese artificial creation that aim to expand its Exclusive Economic Zone. MORE INFORMATION Noticias No Taiwan starts an artillery drill with live fire amid China’s maneuvers Noticias No China defies the West and Japan and continues with military maneuvers in Taiwan Both accuse each other of being militarizing the area, causing the claims of the The rest of the affected nations remain in troubled waters and in the shadow of these two powers. In theory, a commitment to find a code of conduct in the area was established, but recent events and the growth of tension between the United States and Taiwan with China are not encouraging. In addition, the failure of Chinese and Southeast Asian leaders to resolve disputes through diplomatic means could also undermine international laws governing maritime disputes and encourage a buildup of destabilizing weapons.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism