Course Themes
Economic and political development including ‘globalization’
The relationship between the West/USA and the rest of the world
The South China Sea is a popular and convenient trade route that amasses more than $3 trillion dollars per year. It is responsible for one-third of the world’s global shipping and large reserves of oil and gas. It also acts as a crossroad link between the Pacific and Indian oceans. Many countries claim ownership of its islands and reefs, and currently, each country has its own patch and the rest of the South China Sea is labeled as international waters.
The conflict regarding the South China Sea comes with China claiming 90% of the area, based on an old and outdated 1947 historical map of the Sea. These claims were dismissed in 2016 in court and also classed the islands in the South China Sea as rocks, but the results of the suit were ignored by China. The islands in the suit are owned by Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei. Philippines and Vietnam also have ownership of the islands and have built on them. Out of all of the countries, China has built the most artificial islands in the South China Sea and has committed many international law crimes.
The arising conflict due to China’s claims on the area has been displayed by China’s increasing bases on the coral reefs and rocks and its military grip in the South China Sea. While the US is not directly involved, they back their alliances (Japan, Australia, and India) to counter China’s presence in the Sea and have sent warships to stand up for the freedom of navigation. The US fears that the behavior being displayed by China shows a future advancement to a stronger authoritarian regime. China has not received this lightly, claiming that these actions done by the US affects China’s peace and stability.
The story connects to two course themes, as this economic situation can affect economic development around the world and plays into government beliefs. It also shows the difference between the West’s view of freedom of navigation versus those of China’s, which believes the South China Sea is theirs.
Discussion Questions
Why is freedom of navigation important economically and politically? How could repressing it create negative outcomes?
How should sovereignty of navigation and trade routes be declared? Be regions close or equal division?
Sources
“Why Is Everyone Fighting over the South China Sea?” BBC News, BBC, 19 Mar. 2021, 5:07 PM, www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-56459744.
The freedom of navigation is important economically and politically, as it directly leads allows global commerce, travel, and information to spread. All of those are important to growing wealth and stability, especially for developing countries. If China continues to repress the freedom of navigation by ignoring the results of the suit, it will eventually lead to conflict as the islands in suit will rise up to combat their oppression, and have the support of developed countries such as America.
ReplyDeleteFreedom of navigation is important because it affects a country's growth economically in ways such as traveling and the delivery of goods. From a politic viewpoint it is important to be able to freely navigate areas that can be used to deliver information, and the responsibility of enforcing the law in regions around the world has to be given to someone, so freedom to navigate the areas that may need to be patrolled due to illegal trade routes and such are quite important. Repressing freedom of navigation can cause a multitude of problems. Economically, nations would suffer from reduced trade, so profit will drop. For nations that depend on trade, this could become a serious issue. Politically, nations would be unable to share information, so communications and negotiations between nations would be much more difficult, and misunderstandings could end up happening.
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