제 19 호 Is China's Claim on the Nine-Dash Line Reasonable or Unreasonable?
Kicker: Debate
Is China’s Claim on the Nine-Dash Line Reasonable or Unreasonable?
By Su-Young Kim, Reporter /kimsuyoung1342@gmail.com
The Vietnamese government has banned the screening of the Hollywood movie “Barbie” because it contains footage that reflects China’s unilateral claims to its sovereignty in the South China Sea. Also, the Vietnamese government called on Netflix to drop dramas featuring China’s nine-dash line. What is China’s nine-dash line? It is the maritime border of the South China Sea claimed by the People’s Republic of China. It was established in 1947 and sets most of the South China Sea as China’s waters. Within the nine-dash line are the Dongsa Islands, the Paracel Islands, the Macclesfield Islands, and the Spratly Islands. After the nine-dash line was established by China, more than 80% of the South China Sea was included in the line, causing territorial disputes with neighboring countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia. From now on, let’s find out what happened between China and its neighboring countries regarding the nine-dash line and why China designated the nine-dash line. Furthermore, let’s discuss whether their claims are reasonable or not.
Map of the South China Sea
History of China and Neighboring Nations Regarding the Nine-Dash Line
China established a virtual boundary eleven-dash line in the South China Sea in 1947 when it created an official map under the Kuomintang government and changed the eleven-dash line to the nine-dash line in 1953 when the People’s Republic of China, which was launched in 1949, succeeded it. In January 2013, the Philippines filed a complaint with the International Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) with the aim of clarifying its right to develop in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The PCA ruled in July 2016 that China’s claim to the nine-dash line has no legal basis. However, China has ignored this and is pushing ahead with the construction of a military base on the rocks in the Spratly Islands. The PCA stated that noting in the Spratly Islands generates the EEZ, and that the Spratly Islands cannot create EEZs as a unit. Accordingly, some reefs are in the Philippines EEZ and do not overlap with any Chinese rights. Also, the PCA expressed its position that China deepened and expanded the controversy through dredging, artificial island construction, and construction activities. In fact, during the arbitration process, China installed runways, lighthouses on Mischief Reef in Philippines EEZ, adversely affecting the marine ecosystem, and permanently eliminated evidence of natural conditions that are key to determining whether it is an island. On July 13, 2020, U.S. Secretary of State Mile Pompeo said most of the rights China claims in the South China Sea were illegal. Pompeo’s statement came on the fourth anniversary of the International Permanent Court of Arbitration’s ruling on July 12, 2016, that China could not recognize the nine-dash line it put forward in claiming sovereignty over the South China Sea.
Why China Claims the Nine-Dash Line in the South China Sea
China has claimed that more than 250 islands and reefs in the nine-dash line are all Chinese territory and 80% of the 3.5 million square kilometers of the sea are under its jurisdiction. The basis for China’s claim of this nine-dash line as its territorial boundary is its historic title. The Chinese side has insisted on the literature of the Han Dynasty and the records of Jeonghwa’s expedition to the South Sea during the Ming Dynasty as the basis for its position.
Conflicts are brewing between China and countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia over the nine-dash line set by China. China claims that it is justified to set the nine-dash line based on historical data, but neighboring countries claim that it is unfair because it infringed on its territory. Is China’s claim to the nine-dash line reasonable or unreasonable?
Sources:
https://n.news.naver.com/article/469/0000753154?sid=104
