Conflict in South China Sea Again?

Jul 16, 2020 | Elfren S. Cruz
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The pandemic is at the center of public attention because it is the most relevant among current threats to the Philippines. There are, however, other issues that will ultimately become a serious threat if our leaders do not handle them properly.

Understanding these issues requires thorough study of their background.  The most critical of these is the South China Sea dispute caused  by China’s claim of sovereignty over the whole 1.4 million square miles of this maritime area. Other countries have competing claims including Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia. There have been skirmishes and China has illegally transformed some of the reefs into naval bases. When people ask me to explain the whole situation, I tell those who are truly interested to read about the whole maritime area – its geography, history and the issues that need to be resolved.

The South China Sea conflict is a classic study in geopolitics, the study of the Earth’s geography on politics and international relations. It focuses on political power linked to geographic areas. This maritime area is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that stretches from the Malacca Straits to the Straits of Taiwan with an area of around 1,400,000 square miles or 3,500,000 square kilometers. This sea has tremendous strategic importance. One-third of the world’s shipping passes  through it, over $3 trillion in trade each year. It is the main transport lane between China, Japan, Korea and most of ASEAN countries with Europe, Africa, Middle East and South Asia. It also contains lucrative fisheries which are crucial to the food security of millions in Southeast Asia and China. Huge oil and gas reserves are believed to lie beneath its seabed.