South China Sea Dispute

Prelims – Current events of International Importance

Mains (GSI) & (GS II) | Geography of the World | International relations

Why in News?

China and the Philippines have displayed their national flags in competing photo opportunities on a disputed sandbank in the South China sea.

• Recent Disputed area - Sandy Cay, which is part of the disputed Spratly Islands.
• Beijing calls it as Tiexian Reef.
• Dispute happened after - The US and the Philippines launched their annual joint military drills called “Balikatan”, or “shoulder to shoulder”.

South China Sea dispute

• South China Sea – It is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean.
• It is bounded in the
  • North by South China,
  • West by the Indochinese Peninsula,
  • East by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luzon, Mindoro and Palawan), and
  • South by Borneo, eastern Sumatra and the Bangka Belitung Islands
• It stretches from the Strait of Malacca in the southwest to the Strait of Taiwan in the northeast.
• The South China Sea dispute involves overlapping territorial and maritime claims by several countries.
• Involved Countries - China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.
• The core of the dispute lies in China's broad claim to the region, using its "nine-dash line" to demarcate its sovereignty including the Paracel and Spratly Islands, which overlaps with the claims of other nations.
• Strategic Importance of the area – It holds rich natural resources, significant maritime trade routes, and the presence of islands and reefs, which are also sources of contention.
• International Law - The dispute has been subject to international legal proceedings, such as the Permanent Court of Arbitration's ruling in 2016, which largely rejected China's claims.

Reference

The Guardian | South China Sea Dispute