Territorial Disputes in the South China Sea | Global Conflict Tracker
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announces the establishment of a no-fishing zone and marine sanctuary at a lagoon in the Scarborough Shoal. The shoal has been a focal point of tensions between the Philippines and China, but Duterte has broken with his predecessor Benigno S. Aquino III’s tough response to China’s actions. Instead, Duterte has signaled a between Manila and Beijing, preferring to and to resume bilateral dialogue with China on disputed territories. Neither China nor the Philippines has relinquished its respective sovereignty claim, but the leaders of the two countries seem poised to take a more reconciliatory approach.
Beijing on Woody Island, a land mass in the Paracel Island chain in the South China Sea, according to U.S. and Taiwanese officials. U.S. and regional that the deployment may signal a “militarization” of the maritime disputes, while China argues that the falls within its rights for defense on what it considers sovereign territory. Some experts suggest that the move to U.S. freedom of navigation operations in disputed waters. The People’s Liberation Army air force also in the Paracels in October 2015, according to Chinese media reports.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo since both leaders came to power on the sidelines of the 2014 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing. Days earlier, China and Japan reach a designed to improve diplomatic and security ties. The agreement also aims to put in place crisis-management mechanisms to prevent conflict escalation over disputed territory in the East China Sea.
Philippines-China Relations: Beyond the Territoral Disputes
U.S. President Barack Obama, on the last leg of a four-nation Asia tour, signs a new ten-year with the Philippines. Under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement, the U.S. military would gain increased rotational troop presence in the country, engage in more joint training, and have greater access to bases across the archipelago, including ports and airfields. The deal is the centerpiece of Obama’s first visit to the Philippines, the United States’ oldest ally in the region, and underscores the administration’s commitment to the Asia “pivot.” While Obama expresses solidarity with Manila as it seeks international arbitration over the disputed South China Sea islands, he insists that the deal is not aimed at
China’s Ministry of Defense announces the creation of an East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone that requires all non-commercial air traffic to submit flight plans prior to entering the area, which covers most of the East China Sea and includes the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. China announces it could take military action against aircraft flying near the islands, elevating the territorial dispute to airspace. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry immediately urging China to “exercise caution and restraint,” while U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel reaffirms Washington’s longstanding policy that the U.S.-Japan Mutual Defense Treaty covers the disputed Islands. China and Japan summon each others’ ambassadors to lodge official complaints, while South Korea, the United States, and Japan all respond by sending military aircraft on patrols over the East China Sea.
The Philippines initiates an under UNCLOS over Chinese claims of sovereignty to the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal originating from the April 2012 clashes, acting on decades of stalled attempts at resolution. China rejects the process, forcing the court and its arbitration to continue without its participation. The case marks the first time a country has brought a claim against China under UNCLOS regarding the issue.
Newly elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet increases the country’s for the first time in eleven years, approving a $51.7 billion defense package for 2013, marking a 0.8 percent uptick. The spending increase, in addition to a 1.9 percent hike in the Coast Guard budget, comes as Abe’s administration bolsters Japan’s maritime capabilities and ability to monitor and protect the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea. In January, Abe visits Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia in a push to .
[PDF] Territorial and Maritime Disputes in the West Philippine Sea
For the first time in its forty-five-year history, ASEAN fails to issue a communiqué at the conclusion of its annual meeting in Cambodia. Its ten members reach an impasse over China’s claims in the South China Sea, and member countries disagree over whether to include the territorial issue in the joint statement. This diplomatic freeze follows a maritime standoff between China and the Philippines in the Scarborough Shoal three months prior, and is widely seen as a failure for the regional body. Some observers view China’s influence on Cambodia, the 2012 rotating chair of the conference, as having caused the exclusion of the Scarborough Shoal and from the text, resulting in the deadlock.
Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
Vietnam passes a maritime law asserting its jurisdiction over the disputed Spratly and Paracel Islands, demanding notification from any foreign naval ships passing through the area. China issues a strong response, announcing the establishment of a city, Sansha, on the Paracels that would administer the Paracels, Spratlys, and Macclesfield Bank. Relations between Hanoi and Beijing had been fluctuating; in May–June 2011, Chinese surveillance ships cut the cables of oil and gas survey vessels operated by Vietnam’s state-owned energy firm, PetroVietnam, but tensions eased the following October after a high-level visit by Vietnam’s general party secretary to Beijing produced a bilateral agreement outlining measures for handling maritime disputes. Hanoi had also been , reportedly increasing it by 70 percent to $2.6 billion in 2011.
The Puzzle of Chinese Escalation vs Restraint in the South China Sea
Diplomatic relations between Manila and Beijing decline further after the Philippines dispatches a warship to confront Chinese fishing boats in the Scarborough Shoal, north of the Spratlys. China subsequently dispatches its own surveillance vessels to protect its fishermen and a . As China quarantines some fruits from the Philippines and warns against tourism to the country, regional observers worry that tensions will impede economic relations; Philippine losses in banana exports in May are estimated at $34 million. Bilateral talks stall repeatedly over withdrawal from the shoal, and the Philippine government claims it is pursuing various avenues, including ASEAN involvement, legal options under UNCLOS, and an appeal to the United States for a guarantee of assistance in the case of military confrontation. Beijing maintains regular patrols that prevent Philippine fisherman from accessing these waters.
China and Philippines: The Territorial Dispute in The West ..
U.S. President Barack Obama makes a to the Australian parliament, announcing the United States will pivot its strategic attention to the Asia-Pacific, particularly the southern part of the region. The Obama administration announces new troop and equipment deployments to Australia and Singapore and pledges that reductions in defense spending would not come at the expense of commitments to the region. Negotiations continue on the , a free trade agreement seen as a significant step toward greater U.S. economic integration with the Asia-Pacific. Notably, China is excluded from the talks.