Why the South China Sea Fuel US-China Tensions

This video is made possible by CuriosityStream. When you sign up at the link in the description, you'll also gain access to Nebula, the streaming video platform that RealLifeLore is a part of. Follow the link below to start your free trial today. The South China Sea is one of the most important bodies of water in the entire world. The waterway, which stretches over 3.6 million square kilometers, is bordered by China in the as well as the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam, oh and of course Singapore as well. The sea's lucrative fisheries yield approximately 10% of the global fish caught each year and it holds a massive amount of oil and natural gas reserves. In addition to this, it is estimated that some $5 trillion dollars worth of trade transits through its waters each and every year making it one of the most valuable waterways in the entire world. What you may be asking then is why exactly does this region cause such a point of contention? The answer lies with the fact that there are so many conflicting claims to the rocks, reefs, islands and waters within this region that essentially nobody seems to know exactly who owns what. To map it all out, we can start with Malaysia. Malaysia claims maritime waters in a fairly logical way by claiming an area that surrounds both the western and eastern portions of Malaysia. Likewise, Vietnam claims an area beginning in the northern part of the South China Sea and curving around the country towards the Gulf of Thailand. In the east, the Philippines claim an area beginning in the northern portion of the South China Sea near Taiwan before carving out the entire Spratly island chain and intersecting with the Malaysian claim down south. Oh and of course Brunei as well, they overlap with portions of well, really all of the above and let's not forget Taiwan, who also claims a few islands too. Now of course, there are some overlapping claims that do cause some disagreement, but for the most part, the borders seem fairly logical, right? Well, that is until we take a look at China's claim. While the Chinese mainland is on the far north end of the South China Sea, China claims that roughly 80% of the South China Sea is rightfully theirs and backs up this claim with a 1947 map detailing the historical claims made by China shortly after World War II. This line, which has become known as the Nine-Dashed Line, loops down to a point almost 2,000 kilometers south of the Chinese mainland hoping to grant China exclusive access to much of the South China Sea. Now yes, the sea is named after the country claiming it, but I mean come on, India doesn't own the Indian Ocean much like Mexico doesn't own the Gulf of Mexico and most other nations would agree. In fact, within the South China Sea region, many nations including Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan all completely disagree with China and so too does the United Nations. So much so, that a United Nations arbitration court ruled against Beijing just a few years ago stating that China would have no historical rights to the sea. But hey, that's not stopping China now is it? In fact, China is actually not only just claiming the small islands and reefs within the sea, but also building their own islands too through a large-scale island building program sometimes referred to as the Great Wall of Sand. Most nations are critical, however despite this, these artificial islands are being used to strengthen territorial claims within the region. They are created by dredging sand onto existing coral reefs with large dredging ships and then constructing permanent structures such as naval ports, missile batteries, runways and other military equipment. In fact, thus far they have already reclaimed enough land building artificial islands that the entire surface area of all the islands together is equivalent to the size of three entire New York City Central Parks. And all of this has been performed in record time. What was just a long-standing coral reef turned into a bustling military base within just a few years. While the United States does not take any official position on the competing claims, they do regularly demonstrate the right to travel through international waters and assert protections that they are given under what is known as the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea. This is an international agreement that defines the rights and responsibilities of nations with respect to their use of the world's oceans. This law dictates that bodies of water located near land are designated with three distinct maritime zones. The territorial sea, the contiguous zone and the exclusive economic zone or the EEZ. Beginning with territorial seas, they extend 12 nautical miles from land and within this zone it is considered the sovereign territory of the nearby state. Next is the contiguous zone which begins where the territorial sea ends and extends an additional 12 miles. However, this is not considered sovereign territory of the state but it's rather considered international waters. And finally the exclusive economic zone extends 200 nautical miles from land. This area grants states special rights to such as fish, natural gas and oil. While these zones apply to large land masses and even islands, not everything can be considered a legitimate island. You see, to be considered an island it must be naturally formed, always above water and capable of sustaining human habitation or economic activity. The problem is that many of the islands in the South China Sea are not really islands at all and as such cannot be claimed to have each of these maritime zones. However, as you might have guessed, China does not necessarily agree and not only are they claiming islands and building new ones but they are claiming maritime territory that simply is just not their own. Even going so far as to sink a Vietnamese fishing boat near the Paracel Islands earlier this year in an attempt to further assert unlawful maritime claims and disadvantage its southwest Asian neighbors surrounding the South China Sea. This type of aggressive behavior is certainly worrying to the international community and as such the United States has stepped up its efforts to exercise their international rights by performing what is known as a freedom of navigation operation. Essentially it is just a way to challenge excessive maritime claims and protect unlawful overreach. You see, just because a portion of the ocean is within a nation's territorial claim does not mean that it cannot be passed through freely. In fact, international law grants that any ship, either military or civilian, may pass through territorial seas provided that the vessel moves directly through the territorial sea and refrains from any activity not necessary for their continuous passage. And further, despite Chinese objections, obtaining any advanced permission prior to transiting through the territorial claims is not even required at all in accordance with the international law. So as such, the U.S. Navy will regularly send ships through Chinese territorial seas within the South China Sea to challenge excessive maritime claims. Further, for land masses that are not considered true islands but rather artificial islands, the U.S. Navy will zigzag and not make direct passage, further laying claim that they do not believe China owns the nearby waters. For decades, the United States has guaranteed freedom of navigation throughout Asia's waters and promoted the principle that no country shall prevent free movement or interfere. While China's military power continues to rise and their assertive nature over the South China Sea grows, the old ways of peaceful passage through this region of the world are certainly being tested and a potential conflict for the United States and China hangs in the balance. Maintaining free and open access to this waterway is not only important for economic reasons but also to uphold the global norms of freedom of navigation for all. The controversy within the South China Sea is one of the most interesting and most important geopolitical issues of the world today. However, it is not the only important issue worth learning about and that is why I turned to CuriosityStream. 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