Strategic Location And Energy Reserves

When it comes to the political profile, seven different countries have competing maritime claims (mostly over the Spratly and Paracel Islands), some of which become even more complicated as some overlap with other nations’ Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). Despite the “intraregional distrust, deeply rooted historical issues, and rapidly increasing military spending” in the region surrounding the South China Sea, one expert argues that “not only has the conflict not escalated into a serious military conflict; it has, in fact, been mitigated… in fact, a more stable peace has developed.” (Costlow, 2012, p.6).

China has used historical claims to justify its territorial usurpations in the South China Sea. China’s territorial claims are causing conflict in the region as Beijing seeks to control more area of the South China Sea, with one such example being the declaration of Chinese control out to the “Nine dashed line.” Additionally, it is only in the last one hundred or so years that China has

China would set up defense toward illegal actions of the foreign fishermen. One of the fish man said to the author, “One minute you will see an airplane, then there is naval boat. If we keep going over there, maybe we won’t be able to go home to see our family. It is just not the Philippine, but Vietnamese are forbidden to the sea as well (Bale 2016).” The attacking of the civilian is one of the main causes of the tension. To make the case worse, there is conflict when a country tries to defense its own territory. The article mentioned, “Indonesian maritime law enforcement officials arrested eight Chinese on charges of illegal fishing. The fishermen were less than three miles near the water from Indonesia’s Natuna Island. Under international law, the land belongs to Indonesian, but they are partially overlap with China’s U-shaped line claims. So, the China says it has the right to fish there (Bale 2016).” There is always conflict when international law and country’s law comes head to head, because no country is willing to give up their own property. China refuse to participate in any solution which has stretched out the tension more. As previously mentioned, the Philippines brought this case to the in Permanent Court of Arbitration but China chose to continue to ignore the decision of the Court. United States is an ally of the Philippines. There will be billions of deaths if a war between United States and China breaks

China’s recent assertions of military power in the South China Sea is a serious threat to U.S. National Security, and will remain so if China is not confronted or restricted. In recent years, China has increased military spending, weapons, and is now building artificial islands on highly disputed territory in the South China Sea to expand territorial claims. Since the world is anarchic, conflict is always a possibility between States that the U.S. must be aware of and prepared for. In regard to U.S.-China relations, the United States goal should be to protect the freedom of navigation, prevent any further expansion China makes on disputed territory in the South China Sea, and to hold China under high surveillance observation. To accomplish the previously stated goals, the U.S. should respond to China’s recent assertions of naval and air power in the South China Sea through the military initiatives of surveillance and power projection by deploying more ships to the South China Sea to protect Asian allies and any trade traveling through the international water.

Mr. President it’s been an ongoing territorial dispute between Japan and China over isolated islands and has been going on for decades but lately tensions have escalated. The problems that had manifested are the control for the maritime resources, the military balance of power in Asia. Also, we know the distrust between Japan and China because of activism, and the need for power. We should get involved because these are our allies and we don’t want china to take advance of japan because their military is more strong and advance. Rightful these islands belong to Japan because we took it from them as post during world war 2. China’s leaders are hoping to increase their military more in the east china seas. Because we are the united states of America will have to do something I think we should let these countries share these islands and to make sure one country don’t try to take control one the islands we send more navy sailors to sail the water to make sure these countries are comprosiming. We can’t let them work it out because we did that for years and the situation is getting worse, china military is advance rapidly and because japan changed their constitution, them spend more money on their self-defense force. We can’t sit back and do nothing so we should do something before their military forces get stronger. We already have troops in these islands because alongside with our allies

Over the past 30 years, the PRC sustained substantial economic growth and prosperity that has markedly increased its influence throughout the region while driving its need for more energy and natural resources. The SCS and associated islands are a strategically and economically important region due to the vast amount of energy and natural resource reserves within, as well as the significant proportion of global shipping that passes through the area. Numerous SCS islands have disputed sovereignty status and after a decade of peacefully wielding its influence, the PRC has resumed its use of aggressive influence tactics to gain its advantage over the disputed territories. The PRCs tactics

The newly gained economic and military strength in their respective regions is substantial enough to sway the North’s thought process, when constructing an effective foreign policy strategy. As China’s influence grows, the United States is fraught to come up with an effective counter response without debilitating economic repercussion from the Chinese government. Many analysts believe that an alliance between Washington and Beijing is the only sensible option, however, Indonesia’s emergence as a key actor on the South China Sea issue, shows that so-called “middle powers”, like Mexico or Australia, that aren’t permanent members of the United Nations Security Council or global giants like Japan, India and Germany, can play a vast role in outlining the proper response. Through proactive and impartial diplomacy, middle powers – Indonesia, South Korea and Philippines- may be able to contain the rise of China in ways that the United States or Japan cannot.

Since September 2015, China has begun to increase the arming of the islands in the South China Sea on the islands that China claims belongs to them. The claiming of the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands by China are creating panic for its neighbors, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the Philippines. Because, China is ignoring the claims the nations have on the Islands in the South China Sea. Most recently, China has made a political decision to deploy missiles on Woody Island in the South China Sea, an island that is very close to the Philippines and Taiwan. China claims that the island belongs only to China and no one else, but there are Vietnamese, Philippine, and Taiwanese claims on the islands in the South China Sea as well that China is ignoring that is creating unrest in the South China Sea.

Japan and People’s Republic of China have been in a long dispute over a group of islands off the coast of Taiwan. This dispute over the islands has cause a confusion on the actual names, though to the western world they are known as the Pinnacle Islands. Under Japan’s claim of ownership they are known as Senkaku Islands, Senkaku is a rough translation from the English name for the islands, while under the claim of China they are known as the Diaoyu Islands, Diaoyu means “to fish” in Chinese. The islands themselves set very close to the east of China’s mainland and west of Japan’s Okinawa Island. For this current event paper I will include the actors of this conflict with a brief history of the conflict from the view point of each actor, what interest each actor possess that causes claims to this islands difficult, what each actor hope to get out of the islands, what strategies and policies that have been or are taking place to help, in some cases not help, settle this dispute, and what institutions attempt to bring to the negotiation table to ease the tension.

As of today, China has expanded and built over seven artificial islands in the South China Sea since 2014. The South China Sea has recently come to be a major problem in Asia as issues have risen over who has rights of passage and claims in this area. The Chinese of recent have been making territorial claims in the South China Sea that are in areas of free passage for many other Asian countries and the United States. In October 2015, a U.S. guided missile destroyer encountered one of the artificial islands and China’s response was that it would “take any measure” to maintain its security in “their territory”. The Chinese have been questioned in the Permanent Court of Arbitration by the Philippines after claiming rights to historical locations in the South China Sea, which violates sovereign rights of the Philippines, yet China responded to this outcome with refusal and has continued to advance itself in the territory causing huge disputes with its neighboring countries as freedom of navigation has been compromised through China’s actions.. In order to guarantee resolution and maintain the freedom of navigation aspect of international law there needs to be a foreign policy put in place that puts more United States military in the South China Sea with support from disputing countries like Japan and the Philippines as a way to make the issue multilateral and law abiding.

The South China Sea has become a significant source of tension in the Indo-Pacific region mostly regarding competing legal claims of territorial sovereignty . China is at the forefront of this dispute and bases their claim on the ‘nine-dash line’ map. In May 2014, tensions dramatically increased when China began drilling for oil near the Paracel Islands located 120 nautical miles away from the Vietnamese coast. Additionally, sovereignty claims between China and the Philippines over the Spratly Islands has made this conflict a global issue. China has already built multiple artificial islands in the Spratlys that have three completed airstrips already that could either be used for

The first tool of national power PACOM may use to achieve these ends is diplomacy. Diplomacy is not wholly owned by the Department of State and can play a significant role in influencing the military environment. PACOM may use diplomacy as a tool of soft power to persuasively shape a constructive relationship with China. This will require an open and continuous dialogue between both militaries expanding upon cooperation where national interests converge and effectively managing differences where they diverge to reduce the risk of provocation. The first long range step PACOM may take to reduce risk is to mutually develop rules of behavior for naval and air encounters which will ensure the safety of personnel and reduce the risk of confrontation and harassment. Once these rules are in place, PACOM should partner with Chinese military leaders in the development of quarterly joint military training exercises that focus on mutual national interests. These training exercises should focus on cooperation in the areas of humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, counter-piracy, counterterrorism, noncombatant evacuation operations, and maritime safety. In addition to these exercises, security cooperation can be enhanced by partnering with our regional ambassadors and integrating available resources for security assistance, port visits, and military-to-military exchanges. In the long term, allowing port visits and increasing military-to-military exchanges

The dispute over the South China Sea denotes the process of power rebalancing while China rising as a hegemony in East Asia. China craves for more resources and power and decides to effectuate that by controlling more maritime territory. This act impelled the United State to align with the Philippines to balance with China. In a realism world, U.S. has adequate reason to intervene for fear for China becoming too strong a power.

The territorial and maritime disputes over the South China Sea (SCS) have been ongoing for decades. The disputes have been considered to be one the fiercest-contested in Asia. The South China Sea is an enclosed sea surrounded by several different states. China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan, and Malaysia all surrounded the South China Sea. The main cause of tension in this dispute is because China claims to have “historical sovereignty” over all of the South China Sea. Associations of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have come up with different discussions and suggestions on how to end the disputes with favorable conditions for all contending states. They use the principles of the United Nation Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and form the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). The states surrounding the South China Sea possess 12 nautical miles territorial sea and 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zones (EEZs). Thus, the South China Sea is not only international waters, instead, it is also overlapping exclusive economic zones. According to UNCLOS, disputes over exclusive economic zones must be resolved through negotiations by the contending states. Many of these contending Southeast Asian states have negotiated their maritime boundaries, however, China fails to comply. China claims that it owns all of the South China Sea, and therefore, has no need to

In the Western Pacific, the South China Sea is a global crossroads that holds strategic importance for many nations world wide. The South China Sea stretches from the Taiwan and Luzon Straits in the north to Indonesia and the Strait of Malacca in the south with Vietnam on the west and the Philippines and Borneo on the east. In total size, the South China Sea surpasses the Mediterranean Sea. However, unlike this Near-Eastern comparator, territorial disputes and conflicting claims threaten the movement of global trade through the South China Sea, thus unbalancing regional stability in the Asia-Pacific. Claimants include the bordering coastal countries of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Republic of China (a.k.a. Taiwan), the