The situation between China and Taiwan continues to worsen with each passing day, even as China escalates its military operations in the South China Sea. Tensions are continuing to brew in what could escalate to be the latest instalment in deadly, expensive, politicized, and globalized warfare. How did this situation escalate to the level it is today and what does China, a global superpower have to do with it?
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Contextualized: The South China Sea
The South China Sea is part of the Western Pacific Ocean that borders the Southeast Asian mainland. In its entirety, it encompasses an area of about 3,685,000 square kilometres (1,423,000 square miles). It is bordered to the northeast by the Taiwan Strait which connects it to the East China Sea, on the east by the Philippines and Taiwanese islands, and by the island of Borneo to the south and to the southeast where the Gulf of Thailand borders it. The southernmost limit of the sea reaches out to the seabed between the Sumatran island and Borneo. The northern end stretches from the northernmost limit of Taiwan to the coast of the Fujian province of China.
The South China Sea holds a vital historical role in shaping the social-political alliances of the region it borders. It has been, for much of human civilization, a critical maritime passage responsible for enabling trade, especially between China and the rest of the world. For the longest time, the region has been relatively stable with minimal if any conflict. Nonetheless, much of the upheaval tensions witnessed today can be traced back to events that have unfolded over the past century or so.
The South China Sea and the China Sea as a whole, play an important economic role in many of the countries it borders. Most importantly, much of the region depends on it for fishing. Maritime fishing not only sustains livelihoods and hence, contributes to the economic well-being of the countries involved but it is also an important part of the cuisines for many of the communities from where the sea reaches.
That said, however, control of the waters encompassing the South China Sea is an increasingly divisive issue between the countries involved. Every country whose coastline is along the sea strives to maintain its grip over the reaches of its maritime territory, especially given the sea’s economic and geopolitical importance. While the situation has remained relatively stable over many years, the sustenance of peace has been threatened in recent decades, especially due to the rise of China as a regional and global power that seeks to assert control by all means.
An Overbearing China
Control over the South China Sea has become more important to China in recent years even as the country has continued to balloon in size and more importantly, as it is now increasingly dependent on global trade. The sea forms a crucial part of the global shipping highway given that about US$3.37 trillion or about a third of global trade passes through it annually. 80% of China’s energy imports and 39.5% of its total trade volume passes through the sea.
In addition to the aforementioned fishing rights, the sea also provides potential avenues for the exploration and utilization of potential crude oil and gas reserves. Of most importance, however, is the strategic and military importance especially on China’s part, even as she seeks to continually assert her dominance regionally and globally.
The source for the debacle surrounding the control of the sea is enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which was ascertained into effect on the 16th of November 1994. UNCLOS creates and provides for specific legal regimes of the sea over which countries are allowed to exercise control. The creation of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) is of most importance from this convention. EEZs are defined as areas beyond the territorial waters over which the rights, jurisdictions, and freedoms are governed by the coastal state.
An Exclusive Economic Zone is an area defined not to extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the coastal state in question. UNCLOS carves out a section of the sea over which countries with a coastline enjoy exclusivity in the utilization and harnessing of resources for their good.
Consequently, countries such as China have found loopholes to skirt around the laws and provisions of UNCLOS, as a means to assert their dominance and control over the sea. Firstly, China seeks to extend its control over territorial and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) by building military installations on artificial islands it has propped up all over the waters. Most of these installations are built on artificial islands or on small islands, reefs, or rocks that are normally little more than navigational hazards.
Furthermore, control over these also gives China access to their EEZs which is important in giving it access to economic rights (fishing and mining rights are of special importance) to a vast expanse of the sea. The South China Sea also has huge potential reserves of oil which China seeks to have access to and control over.
China, for example, maintains sovereignty over the Spratly Islands which is one of the most hotly contested regions of the sea, and has asserted its dominance by building military installations on it. As of 2022, China had built three fully militarized islands on the sea, a move which is seen as an aggressive push towards ‘expanding its offensive capabilities beyond its continental shores’. Therefore, this has necessitated a response by the United States which has been sending in naval and aerial military reinforcements to patrol and promote free navigation in the international waterway.
The deployment of these military reinforcements by the United States has served to ramp up tensions between the two global superpowers. Given the aggression exercised by the Chinese military, there have been a lot of close confrontations between the two. The United States is adamant on its ploy to protect its strategic geo-political assets in the region as well as those of its allies in the region. China, however, sees the militarization of the region by the United States as a threat to its territorial sovereignty, even though it is willing to disregard the maritime rights and freedoms of other countries in the region.
Furthermore, China’s claims over Taiwan serve to further escalate the issue, as the United States has vowed to use military force if necessary to protect the island from an invading Chinese force.
Making Peace not War
In the past two years or so, the world has been forced to witness the atrocities of war in Ukraine and Israel-Palestine which have been a stark reminder that peace is quite the premium commodity. As global and regional tensions continue to rise, many more countries feel motivated to utilize their military capabilities to pursue their interests. Even as the situation in South China continues to deteriorate, the resolution of conflict by peaceful means should always remain an option. The selfish and aggressive pursuit of personal interests is a mutually destructive one that not only the parties involved but the world at large.
However, despite the hopes for the utilization of rationality by the countries involved, it should be remembered that these powers can as easily be disillusioned. Perhaps the time is nigh for everyone to get off their high horse and come down to the negotiating table. The world cannot afford to go through another expensive and avoidable conflict.
Read More: Africa’s involvement in the war in Israel-Palestine.
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