03-04 South China Sea

The colourful map shows just how complex the geography of the area is with all the overlapping jurisdictions created by the many thousands of small islands not shown on the map, and each nations jurisdictional claims.
The major players in the area are, of course, China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Taiwan.
It is not hard to appreciate that fishing grounds are the big issue. Indonesia, alone, has something like 460,000 fishing boats.
The attached photo is of a traditional Chinese fishing junk that is historic and romantic.
But today’s fishing fleets are modern machines designed to gobble up the resources of the sea. They also function as spy ships for their nation’s coast guard and naval vessels.
The map shows what China considers its area of official influence in the South Chinas sea, but that claim has been rejected by an international tribunal in the Hague. Nevertheless, China expands its influence in so many ways.
It has, for example, lent something like $7 billion to the Philippines, putting a former US ally in China’s corner.
And its big initiative has been building artificial islands. Names like Fiery Cross, Mischief and Subi are those of former reefs converted into islands that are able to service military aircraft, ballistic missiles and naval installations.
Trying to understand the strategic military purposes of these islands, authorities tell us they are necessary to protect China’s ballistic missile submarine fleet.
And just examining the project from its engineering challenge, the dredging operations required to create these artificial islands is something extraordinary. Naturally they are destructive to the reefs and the ecology of the area.
But I am not sure anyone in China really cares about ecology when the game is expanding your power and influence in the area.
Few of us really appreciate just how important the South China Sea is to world trade. Something like $5 trillion in global trade passes through the South China Sea each year. And something like $22 billion or 12% of the world’s fishing catch comes from the area.
And how about an estimated trillion dollars worth of crude oil and natural gas beneath the sea. A wild estimate? Of course. But you can be sure there are huge US energy interests at stake.
If there is to be a publicly announced cold war between the US and China, it will start with disputes over the South China Sea. And, it will make the cold war with the Russian Federation look like child’s play.