Dublin Core

Title

The Spratly Islands disputes: An analysis

Description

With the end of the Cold War there is little doubt that China is the most important state in the East & Southeast Asia. This have somewhat altered the balance of power in the South China Sea. The withdrawal of the United States from Subic bay in the Philippines and the former Soviet Union from Cam Ranh bay in Vietnam base made the People Republic of China in the best position to take advantage of the power vacuum. It claims most of the area and argues that approximately 860,000 square kilometres of its territory has been encroached upon by other regional powers.

As China begun to encroach further toward the ASEAN states the Spratly islands disputes became a regional conflict between China and her southern neighbours. The Spratly's are prized for their strategic location and the belief that they lie over one of largest oil fields in the world. All the disputants states are engaged in an attempt to control of as much of the archipelago as possible.

Presently there remains many territorial conflict. In some aspect the Spratly Islands disputes are an extension of other territorial disputes between the claimant states and perpetuities of unfriendliness and distrust. The disputes over the Spratly's are in reality a competition for resources primarily rather than the islands itself. It is pressumed that there is abundant existence of potential resources, the strategic location of the islands relative to shipping and air transit that links the Indian ocean and the Pacific ocean give added advantage to the country who is in control of the islands. Hence, the disputes revolve around closely related issues such as sovereignty over the islands the maritime rights and the inherent interest over the sea around them. The conflict over economic resources and military development among the claimant countries. Indeed the South China sea is regarded as a flashpoint. The unsettled problem remains a major concern, the Spratly islands group in the north China sea has been identified as one of the potential flashpoint. This is due to the overlapping claims of China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. Any attempt to further occupy any of the unoccupied islands and any attempt to eject or boot out the occupants of an island within the disputed area and accident or misinterpretations due to deployment by the claimants of military forces in the area may spark an armed confrontation.

Creator

Cdr Benjamin G. Pizan

Source

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
University of Malaya
PL5065 1999 Piz

Date

1999

Contributor

kelly

Format

Project Paper

Identifier

A515625369