New law for Asian sea necessary
By Choi Yearn-hong
The most frequent sea and peace articles have come from the South China Sea this year. Conflicts are rampant between China and countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ― mainly Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.
In May, China provoked Vietnam when Chinese fishing boats under the disguise of the Chinese Navy destroyed Petro Vietnam’s survey of undersea oil and gas fields. Vietnam was determined to go to war with China.
The rhetoric of war was not put into action, but the South China Sea drew attention from around the world. China warned the United States not to become involved. The two powers interpret exclusive economic zones (EEZ) differently.
The United States has claimed that an EEZ means the freedom of navigation, including U.S. naval ships. China has claimed an EEZ is its own exclusive sea. It was and is a contradiction to see that Chinese naval ships have freely navigated other nations’ EEZs. EEZ space is still different from one nation to another. There is no consensus between and among nations that share the small South China Sea and East China Sea.
China-Vietnam conflicts have been well known over the years. The clashes between China and the Philippines were also reported in June. Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto del Rosario warned that any new construction by China in the vicinity of the uninhabited Iroquois Bank in the South China Sea was a clear violation of the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration of Cooperation. The foreign secretary complained that Chinese marine surveillance vessels were navigating well within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile EEZ.
Chinese military vessels reportedly fired shots at Philippine fishing vessels at Jackson Atoll, 140 nautical miles from Palawan in February. In March, Chinese navy patrol boats allegedly harassed a Philippines-sanctioned oil exploration vessel at Reed Bank, part of Palawan Province and not of the Spratly’s.
In May, MiG fighters believed to be from China allegedly harassed Philippines Air Force reconnaissance aircraft patrolling over Reed Bank.
Malaysia added that China’s structure built on the reef in the Spratly Islands was a military one, not shelter for fishermen. The lack of trust between China and its neighboring nations was noteworthy.
China’s military and abrasive diplomacy has stirred its neighboring nations. China and India’s rivalry in the Indian Ocean is also well known. The tension in the South China Sea is not an arcane legal issue, but a near and dangerous threat to the global economy and to the regional ecology.
The sea lines of communication through the South China Sea connect Europe to Asia, making the sea one of the busiest waterways in the world. Almost half of the world’s shipping passes through the sea, transporting a significant portion of oil from the Middle East to Northeast Asia.
The South China Sea is also rich in hydrocarbons. Full exploitation of these resources is hampered by unresolved boundaries and blatant military intimidation. Overfishing is also rampant.
Some ASEAN nations proposed a name change of the South China Sea to the Southeast Asia Sea.
The South China Sea has been known as the East Sea to the Vietnamese, the West Philippine Sea to Filipinos and the South Sea to the Chinese. The South China Sea has been used so long by Western mapmakers without Southeast Asian people’s consent.
It might have originated from mapmakers in Europe who were not conscious of the probable impact afterward. The naming of the sea is becoming a sensitive issue to ASEAN nations, as much as that of the sea between Korea and Japan is for the Korean people.
National Geographic has accepted a dual name, the East Sea/the Sea of Japan. Some proposed a neutral sea name such as the Blue Sea or the Green Sea.
The Spratly Islands were an area of conflict among the ASEAN nations. Professor Jon Van Dyke at the University of Hawaii proposed a common sea ground of all claimants.
The 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration of Cooperation has set possible transformation of the area into a Zone of Peace, Freedom, Friendship and Cooperation through sustained consultations and dialogue.
Intellectual society should explore new stage to discuss Asian seas and peace. The current law of the sea is based on the outcome of Western imperialism about who first discovered seas, islands and reefs, or who occupied them.
The Asian nations did not have such an imperialism history except for Japan’s aggression at the turn of the 20th century and the Pacific War in 1941-45.
A new law for Asian seas should be proclaimed for the common heritage of sea and seabed resources among the Asian nations. A median line is necessary between or among the nations sharing the South China Sea and the East China Sea.
The writer is a political scientist with a Ph.D. degree from Indiana University in 1974.