Disputely Countries In The South China Sea: Conflicts For Decades That Never End

YOGYAKARTA - Over the past 10 years, disputes in the South China Sea have continued to be in the spotlight. When China built islands in the middle of the South China Sea, underwater coral reefs had become sandy islands with airfields, roads, buildings, and bases for missile methods.

In less than two years, China has turned seven corals into seven military bases, making the South China Sea one of the most controversial marine areas in the world. Then what are the disputed countries in the South China Sea?

The interest is not limited to that. The ocean area is estimated to contain 11 billion barrels of oil, 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (Country for Foreign Relations, 2021), and 10% of world fisheries resources.

More importantly, about 30% of global maritime trade passes through the South China Sea on its way to highly traded ports in Southeast Asia (Khoury, 2017). Thanks to these aspects, the South China Sea is a contested maritime area that is currently claimed to be partially controlled by five countries.

Conflicts between five countries, namely the Philippines, Vietnam, China, Brunei, Taiwan, and Malaysia, have not been resolved for decades. The plaintiff state has different territorial claims and sometimes overlaps based on various historical and geographic data (Wang, 2015). For example, China currently claims more than 80 percent of the island, while Vietnam claims all sovereignty over the Paracel Islands and Sprately (Story, 2014).

This article aims to analyze the conflict in the South China Sea from a historical and legal point of view. Therefore, first I will examine the historical context and the root of the conflict, then explain how the conflict turned into a frozen conflict and why so far no solution has been found. Finally, I will discuss whether solutions are possible with regional actors and whether international solutions have the potential to materialize.

The Origin Of The Conflict

The main conflict in the South China Sea began in 1279, when China drew a map of its territorial influence covering the entire South China Sea. Since then, control over the region has changed hands between regional powers and, later, colonial countries.

However, most people agree that most of the current problems stem from the 1951 San Francisco Agreement, which followed Japan's defeat in World War II. Under the condition of its surrender, Japan handed over its right to its islands in the South China Sea, leaving a power vacuum in the region.

No country has been explicitly given sovereignty over these waters, and China (Kuomintang Government) has confirmed its superiority by filing the now-famous "nine-point line" which covers almost the entire South China Sea in 1947. This line is its official claim and is now known as the Nine-Dash Line (Khoury, E., 2017).

In 1982, United Nations law established an exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Right after that, China repeated its nine-line line, refusing to clarify this line boundary and rejecting other plaintiff states' claims.

Since then, tensions have risen over who owns the South China Sea. Meanwhile, the centralized conflict in the Paracel Islands and Spratly, an archipelago located in the heart of the South China Sea. Currently, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam claim to be part of a series of Paracel Islands and Spratly. They have confirmed their claim by establishing small boats, ports, and even people on rocks in the middle of the ocean.

Reasons for conflict

What is the real bet of this territorial dispute? First and foremost, the natural resources of this region are a very distinctive feature of the South China Sea, which is actually a very rich region from this point of view, due to its very wide continental shelf, relatively shallow waters, contributions from several fast-flowing rivers, and also large biodiversity (Roche, 2013).

Another issue that is no less important is the disputed geostrategic situation. The gateway to the Malacca Strait and Singapore's port, on one of the most important shipping routes in the world, grip on the Paracel Islands and Spratlys also ensures control of the economic supply of Northeastern Asia (Roche, 2013).

In addition, for the surrounding countries, the South China Sea is a major source of food, accounts for 8% of the world's total commercial fisheries production, and is responsible for feeding many of the country's largest population today, from 226 million Pakistanis to Chinese. 1.4 billion citizens (Khoury, 2017).

As a result, the South China Sea, as one of the most important economic and strategic regions in the world, is undeniable to be important to Southeast Asia's way of life (Khoury, 2017). An area that has such an interest is not limited to the interests of the countries around it, but also beyond the prosecution countries in the region and also brings the region to the attention of other actors.

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