{"id":626,"date":"2017-04-03T20:58:42","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T18:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/east-sea.de\/?p=626"},"modified":"2017-04-03T20:58:42","modified_gmt":"2017-04-03T18:58:42","slug":"english-south-china-sea-dispute-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-hague-court-ruling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/east-sea.de\/en\/2017\/04\/03\/english-south-china-sea-dispute-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-hague-court-ruling\/","title":{"rendered":"South China Sea dispute: what you need to know about The Hague court ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"Beijing asserts sweeping ownership in these contested waters. Now an international tribunal has ruled in favour of the Philippines in case over territorial control<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

China asserts sovereignty over maritime areas that are also claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Japan. Photograph: AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

What is happening?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

An international tribunal in The Hague overwhelmingly backed the Philippines in a case on the disputed waters of the\u00a0South China Sea, ruling that rocky outcrops claimed by China – some of which are exposed only at low tide \u2013 cannot be used as the basis of territorial claims. It said some of the waters in question are \u201cwithin the exclusive economic zone of the\u00a0Philippines, because those areas are not overlapped by any possible entitlement of China\u201d. The tribunal furthermore found that China had violated the Philippines\u2019 sovereign rights in those waters by interfering with its fishing and petroleum exploration and by constructing artificial islands.<\/p>\n

coral reefs and turn them into islands. On these islands the Chinese military has installed missile launchers, runways, barracks and other security facilities.<\/p>\n

The court was asked to investigate whether these reclaimed areas are indeed considered \u201cislands\u201d under international law, which are granted exclusive economic zones. The\u00a0Philippinessaid many should be considered \u201crocks\u201d.<\/p>\n

The UN Convention of the Law of the Sea normally stipulates a 200 nautical mile zone of the coast for economic exclusivity. But China claims 90% of the area, a much larger zone.<\/p>\n

The Philippines refers to the area of the South China Sea that it controls as the West Philippine Sea. Manila has\u00a0welcomed\u00a0former second world war enemy Japan to conduct joint military exercises and also former coloniser United States to land fighter jets in the archipelago nation.<\/p>\n

How is China likely to react?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Experts are divided on how China will react to the verdict. Some believe China could push back aggressively if the court comes down firmly against its interests.<\/p>\n

China reacted angrily to the verdict in the immediate aftermath. Xinhua, the country\u2019s official news agency, hit out at what it described as an \u201cill-founded\u201d ruling that was \u201cnaturally null and void\u201d.<\/p>\n

China has long argued its sovereignty to the area under the \u201cnine-dash line\u201d, in which its vessels sailed as far back as the Han dynasty 2,000 years ago.<\/p>\n

Possible forms of retaliation include landing fighter jets on airstrips Beijing has built in disputed areas, declaring an air defence identification zone, or ADIZ, over the South China Sea or kicking off a dredging campaign at Scarborough Shoal, which is claimed by both the Philippines and China.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

There is a precedent for violence. During the 1970s and 1980s, China and Vietnam used force several times, resulting in dozens of deaths and several sunken ships.<\/p>\n

Glaser, the CSIS expert, said she believed Beijing would seek to avoid \u201cdestabilising actions\u201d, particularly with\u00a0China set to host the G20 in September. \u201cThey are just dead set on having a successful meeting \u2026 it is Xi Jinping\u2019s reputation at stake,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201c[But] there is the potential that things go the other direction and that is that the Chinese think that they are being bullied, they are being victimised and that the<\/p>\n

Why is that important?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Control of the\u00a0South China Sea\u00a0is the most contentious and explosive diplomatic issue in east Asia, with China asserting sovereignty over maritime areas that span 3.5m square kilometres but are also claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Japan. Washington has become deeply involved, backing those against China and conducting military patrols.<\/p>\n

Although the case was\u00a0raised\u00a0by the Philippines, it will affect all these countries as it effectively punches a series of holes in China\u2019s all-encompassing \u201cnine-dash\u201d demarcation line, a dotted marker in Chinese maps that stretches deep into the South\u00a0China\u00a0Sea. It effectively declares large areas of the sea to be neutral international waters.<\/p>\n

The South China Sea is thought to have significant oil and gas reserves and is a route for about $4.5tn (\u00a33.4tn) in trade. There are giant fisheries and lanes for half of all commercial shipping. The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has\u00a0vowed to \u201cresolutely defend\u201d his country\u2019s interests\u00a0in the region.<\/p>\n

The lead up to the ruling was fraught. China\u2019s foreign minister called the US secretary of state, John Kerry, by telephone last week and\u00a0warned\u00a0against moves that infringe on China\u2019s sovereignty. And Beijing conducted military drills,\u00a0deploying\u00a0at least two guided missile destroyers and a missile frigate.<\/p>\n

Bonnie Glaser, the director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) thinktank in Washington, said a ruling that questioned or rejected China\u2019s \u201cnine-dash line\u201d would not invalidate all of Beijing\u2019s claims to land or maritime zones in the South\u00a0China\u00a0Sea. \u201c[But] it would really limit the amount of water that the Chinese could have any legal sovereignty claim to.<\/p>\n

Who made the judgment?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The\u00a0Philippines raised the case in 2013\u00a0in a five-judge permanent court of arbitration in The Hague, arguing that Beijing\u2019s claim violated UN conventions.<\/p>\n

Beijing has rejected the court\u2019s authority to rule on the case and has also attempted to discredit its work as biased by pointing to the fact that\u00a0a judge from China\u2019s regional rival Japan\u00a0was involved in its creation.<\/p>\n

What has been happening in the meantime?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

China has upped activities in the South China Sea in recent months to further entrench its presence in the region. It has used dredging ships to pour sand on<\/p>\n

party must defend China\u2019s sovereignty and every inch of China\u2019s territory. In which case we could see some rather provocative moves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe notion that they might start landing fighters \u2026 would really escalate tensions between the US and China and make the region very nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ashley Townshend, a fellow at the University of Sydney\u2019s United States Studies Centre, said he believed Beijing would seek a \u201cmiddle path: a way to not capitulate but also a way to not escalate\u201d.<\/p>\n

That would probably involve continuing\u00a0to conduct military exercises in the region\u00a0as a way of showing strength without further inflaming tensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina has tended in this context [of the South China Sea] to seize the initiative when it views an opportunity and it hasn\u2019t tended to push ahead when it meets opposition,\u201d Townshend said.<\/p>\n

How will the Philippines react?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines\u2019 newly elected president, has left experts guessing as to how he might respond to a ruling that is likely to be in his country\u2019s favour. \u201cThe Philippines is a completely unknown quanity here. We just don\u2019t know what Duterte is going to do,\u201d said Glaser. \u201cHe\u2019s a wild card.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duterte has\u00a0vowed to ride a jet ski into disputed areas of the South China Sea\u00a0in defiance of Beijing. But it is also possible that he will seek to minimise the court\u2019s ruling in order to improve ties with China.<\/p>\n

Duterte has backed multilateral talks to settle the row. Closer relations with Beijing would give Manila access to Chinese loans and much needed investment in infrastructure, and could also help ease tensions in the region.<\/p>\n

Who has China got on its side?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Russia has backed Beijing\u2019s position that direct talks should take place.<\/p>\n

And portraying itself as\u00a0the victim of a US conspiracy to contain its rise, Beijing has scoured the globe for supporters in its case, no matter how disconnected they might be from the subject. In late May the foreign ministry in Beijing\u00a0saidVanuatu, Lesotho and Palestine had joined its side.<\/p>\n

\u201cCountries that harbour no selfish interests and understand the South China Sea sympathise with and endorse China\u2019s just position on this issue,\u201d spokesperson Hua Chunying said.<\/p>\n

Townshend said China had good historical reasons to be concerned about \u201cmore powerful external countries ganging up on it and telling it what it is entitled to do and not do\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201c[But] it is very difficult for China to play the victim card when you look at the scale and speed and content of what it has built and put on the islands.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Oliver Holmes<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>in Bangkok and\u00a0<\/strong>Tom Phillips<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>in Beijing<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tuesday 12 July 2016\u00a010.52\u00a0BSTFirst published on Tuesday 12 July 2016\u00a001.31\u00a0BST<\/p>\n

 \n

Aufrufe: 571<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beijing asserts sweeping ownership in these contested waters. Now an international tribunal has ruled in favour of the Philippines in case over territorial control China asserts sovereignty over maritime areas that are also claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Japan. Photograph: AFP\/Getty Images What is happening? An international tribunal in The Hague …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[41],"tags":[44],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/east-sea.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/east-sea.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/east-sea.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/east-sea.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/east-sea.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/east-sea.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":628,"href":"https:\/\/east-sea.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions\/628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/east-sea.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/east-sea.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/east-sea.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}