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The South China Sea Dispute

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The South China Sea Dispute
There is a stark contrast between the schisms of the twentieth century and the ones of the twenty-first. The wars of the twentieth were primarily fought on dry land, in Europe, however, in the twenty-first century, the military, economic, and demographic focus of the globe has become increasingly maritime. Maritime including the sea, air, and outer space, because ever since the aircraft carriers and satellites were put into use, the air and outer space have become interconnected with naval warfare and military activities. East Asia is a large and vast area, stretching from the Arctic to the Antarctic, known for its broken array of shorelines and archipelagos from the Kim Islands all the way to New Zealand. While …show more content…

Chinese experts estimate that the South China Sea can ultimately yield 130 billion barrels of oil, making it contain more oil than anywhere else in the world with the exception of Saudi Arabia. For this reason, Chinese observers have called the South China Sea “the second Persian Gulf”. China’s state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation has invested $20 billion the energy generating resources in the South China Sea and has already taken steps to extract these natural resources. In 2014, China placed the Haiyang Shiyou 981 oil rig in contested waters, near Vietnam. The Chinese oil rig is the first domestically built mobile drilling platform by China, and it covers the area of a football field and stands 449 feet tall. After clashes with Vietnamese vessels, China briefly removed the oil rig, but it was placed back near the Gulf of Tonkin on January 16, 2016. The Vietnamese government strongly protested against the presence of a Chinese oil rig in contested waters that both China and Vietnam claim. The rig is currently in an overlapping area between the Hainan Island (China) continental shelf and Vietnam’s continental shelf. The presence of this oil rig caused worry and has lead to many conflicts. China is also desperate for new sources of energy, as China consumes 10 percent of all oil produced while only producing 1.1 percent. The resources in the South China Sea could relieve China’s dependence on oil coming from the Middle East through

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