Beijing lays claim to virtually all of the South China Sea, putting it at odds with regional neighbours the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, which also have partial claims.
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Earlier this week, Chinese state-owned newspaper China Daily claimed that almost 70 countries support China’s stance on South China Sea issue. In their recent joint statements both the USA and India have repeatedly declared their support for freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, signalling that the Modi government is not reluctant to highlight New Delhi’s convergence with Washington on regional issues. Clearly, the country has decided it wants to show people who attempt to enforce the ruling the strength of its military.
Seen as one of the key manoeuvres after the establishment of the PLA’s new command structure, the event will see mixed army brigades sent from each theatre command separately confront a PLA troop posing as the enemy.
They marched through one of the city’s busiest streets, Regent Street, to the embassies of the Philippines and the United States, holding banners saying “Arbitration Illegal Illegitimate Invalid”, “Say No to Arbitration”, “Settle Disputes in Genuine Bilateral Negotiation” and “Defend Our Sea Border, No More U.S. Interference.”. It is entirely likely that China will once again raise the possibility of imposing an Air Defense Identification Zone, or take the United States to task for conducting naval patrols in or near disputed areas.
In particular, China has simply shown up at various uninhabitable atolls, reefs and rocky outcroppings, unceremoniously declared them to be Chinese, and then proceeded to dredge the surrounding waters to build up artificial islands, at least some of which are clearly meant to host military facilities such as runways.
He meanwhile called for dialogue between interest parties in the South China Sea and joint development of resources there. The Philipines had long claimed the “nine-dash line” was drawn in a way that was contrary to an earlier agreement.
On the 12th, an global court in The Hague, Netherlands, declared that China has no legal authority over the South China Sea according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This expansionist reading of the nine-dash line was never an official policy position. Already this year we have seen unusual things occurring, wherein many anti-Chinese leaders in Mongolia and Vietnam have had to step down to be replaced by pro-China politicians and people of power. Respecting the rule of law is “the foundation for building equitable state relations and the basis upon which just and fair societies were built”, world leaders said, when they adopted the declaration reaffirming the rule of law during the UN General Assembly in September 2012.
In response, China has said it hopes Australia thought about its “wrong comments” and chose to backtrack on what it said.
A web game made by a Hong Kong-based media outlet called the “South China Sea Adventure” gives users the chance to play a Chinese fisherman who is drifting on South China Sea after a storm.
This, of course, has been the problem in dealing with the communist country over the years for many in the worldwide community. With the Hague ruling conveniently visible in his back pocket, he surely has leverage to make material progress and to harness significant investment flows from China to improve the country’s appalling infrastructure. This is especially true when dealing with regions it feels like it is obviously the strongest actors. As China’s military capability and economic interests expand it wants to secure access to the region’s sea lanes, territories and economic zones. “Sooner or later China should come to its senses [and realize] that if it keeps on violating the global norms, it will become isolated from the worldwide community”, Panda said.
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Don’t get me wrong: this ruling was a huge and embarrassing diplomatic blow for China that will undoubtedly generate unsafe tensions across the South China Sea.
