South China Sea has

become a global hot spot so we will be

discussing following aspects related to

it

Where is South China Sea?

Why it is important?

What are the present disputes?

Countries involved in the dispute

Timeline

Award of the permanent court of arbitration

Gobal community's reaction to the award

China's reaction

Impact on India

so let's start with where

if you see on a map South China Sea is the sea

surrounded by countries like China,

Vietnam

Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines, Taiwan.

On its west lies Bay of Bengal and

Indian Ocean and on east lies the pacific

ocean.

Now why it is important?

it is one of the busy international waterways

approximately 30% of global

maritime trade passes through it every year.

There is possibility of

approximately 11 billion barrels of

untapped oil number.

Possibility of 190 trillion cubic feet natural gas

Shortest route between Indian

ocean and Pacific through Malacca strait.

Thus, it holds a lot of economic and Strategic importance

Now what is the dispute and countries involved?

South China Sea has

hundreds of small islands, the main ones

that are Scarborough Shoal, Spartly Island

Paracel Island etc.

China claims most

of these islands but other countries

like Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan

Indonesia, Philippines have rival claims.

China based on its historical claims of

discovery and use going back to the 2nd

century AD says that it has right over

more than 80% of the South China Sea

China demarcates it through

its nine-dash line which is a "U" shape

line made of nine dashes.

The Chinese claims in the modern time

goes back to 1947 when it first

demarcated it with 11 dash line and

in 1949 it removed the two dashes and now

it's nine dash line.

Since 1970's it aggressively started

claiming the area.

Now the present dispute

In 2013, Philippines raised the

issue with PCA that is permanent court of

arbitration claiming that China has

violated its soverign right under the

1982 UNCLOS which is United Nations

Convention on the Laws of the Sea.

It has taken control over the Scarborough Shoal.

Now what is the court ruling?

the court ruling which came in July 2016

in which it has - rejected China's historical

claims in the South China Sea.

Condemned china for

aggrevating the dispute by building

artificial islands in the area.

Violating Philippines sovereign right

right within its EEZ that is

Exclusive Economic Zone.

Damaging the marine ecosystem of the

area by doing artificial constructions.

World's reaction and China's reaction

the global community has welcomed the

verdict especially the countries

surrounding the South China Sea as well

as Japan.

China reaction:

It strongly declared the verdict as null and void

it says the PCA has no

jurisdiction in this case as it cannot

give rulings in matters of maritime

delimitation, historical base or

titles as per 2006 UNCLOS declaration.

It has cited examples of US

and UK rejecting the rulings of PCA in

Nicaragua and Malvinas cases respectively

It further says that the five-member tribunal

which gave the verdict was painted as

it was formed without its consent.

Now even thought the provisions of UNCLOS

make the award final and binding

but there is no provision of

enforcement mechanism as PCA is an

inter-governmental body and not a court

hence the ruling will not affect

China but China also realizes that

because of the whole issue

its relationship with ASEAN member

countries which have been derailed

because 4/10 of them directly

involved in it.

These four are Vietnam, Brunei,

Philippines and Malaysia.

Its ambition of becoming a superpower

connecting communities from Asia to Eurasia

through its various projects like

Maritime Silk Route, One belt-One Road

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

that is AIIIB etc. would take a

backseat if China itself does not

honor the international commitments.

It has to lead by example

so finally China has come out with the

statement that it upholds the principle

of freedom of navigation and is

committed to the peaceful settlement of

the issues in South China Sea through

negotiations.

What does the judgment for India?

Though India is not a direct

party to the dispute but it impacts our

economic and strategic interests like

now our warships do not have to

inform China while navigating through the

South China Sea, unlike in earlier

instances say for example in 2011 when our

warrship INS Airavat was stopped by the

Chinese nacy while it was floating through South

China Sea after returning from Vietnam.

We have similar maritime

dispute with Bangladesh in which the

same court under the same article 7

gave the award and abiding by it, we

peacefully gave away approximately eighty

percent of the disputed territory to Bangladesh.

India generally respects international

commitments be it with Bangladesh case or

Pakistan case vis-e-vis Indus water treaty.

China's reaction has elevated

our moral stature among the global

community.

China said

it can talk about supporting India's NSG

memberships, trying to lure India to

support its stand in South China Sea.

Here we can take diplomatic advantage of

the situation.

It's very important for success of

our "Act East Policy" initiative.

We need to secure our SLOC which is

Sea Lanes of Communication, freedom of navigation and

moreover we have energies deals with

Brunei, Vietnam etc. countries.

So it's very vital for our commercial interests.