Monique chemilliergendreau, sovereignty over the paracel. Peaceful settlement of disputes in the south china sea. Vietnams position on the sovereignty over the paracels. The washingtonbased organization announced last week that it would change naming conventions for the paracel islands on future map printings. An international history of the dispute in the south china sea. Sovereignty over the paracel and spratly islands by. Vietnam declared its sovereignty over the spratly islands and the paracel. The delegates overwhelmingly rejected this suggestion. Vietnamese position on the sovereignty of the paracels and spratlys. Whether from the perspectives of history, geography, or international law, the nanshaspratlyislands, shisha paracel islands, chungsha islands macclesfield bank, and tungsha pratas islands, as well as their surrounding waters, are an inherent part of roc territory and waters.
Xavier furtado where does the united nations convention on the law of the sea unclos sit visavis the ongoing disputes over the spratly islands. The spratly islands dispute is a regional maritime territorial sovereignty dispute which involves six countries in the south china sea china, taiwan, vietnam, philippines, malaysia and brunei. Pdf the paracel islands dispute has recently resurfaced as a source of. This thesis will also study possible solutions and effects on both the region and the international community. The south china sea disputes have lasted for 40 years. The petition for removal of the label china at the paracel islands on ngss online world map dear mr. In reality, china owns indisputable sovereignty over the islands grounding on ample historical and legal basis. Historical documents on vietnams sovereignty over paracel and spratly islands june 24, 2011 vietnamnet bridge the paracel hoang sa and the spratly truong sa islands are two archipelagos offshore vietnam. Viet nam has ample historical evidence and legal basis to assert its sovereignty over the hoang sa paracel islands and the truong sa spratly islands in accordance.
This claim is backed up by vietnamese documents whose. Disputes over their sovereignty involve numerous countries across the region. Sovereignty over the paracel and spratly islands, by. Historical documents on vietnams sovereignty over paracel.
Sea has been embroiled in clashes over fishing rights and diplomatic posturing over sovereignty issues, the region has enjoyed a peaceful existence for the past thirty years. The spratly islands, known to the chinese as the nansha southern sands islands and to the vietnamese as truong sa, lie about 300 miles east of vietnam and 300 miles west of the philippines. China did not attend the conference and was not a signatory of the treaty. Sovereignty dispute over the spratly islands of the. Chinas claim of sovereignty over spratly and paracel. Sovereignty to the paracel islands, scarborough shoal, and pratas reef and. We are writing this letter concerning the label china at the disputed paracel islands on the online world map edition published by the national geographic society. Apr, 20 international law and sovereignty over the paracel and spratly archipelagoes part 16 posted by southeastasiansea. The spratly islands are subject to overlapping claims by six nations, including china, taiwan and vietnam. To investigate the source of the conflict, one does not have to go back very far. The islands and islets do not emerge from a zone of deep ocean floor which may be considered to be the natural prolongation of the land territory of a particular state.
A balanced threat assessment of chinas south china sea. Nearby to the left were the paracel islands the xisha islands whichyielded sea slugs, and also coral, which was not of very good quality. Sovereignty over the paracel and spratly islands by monique chemilliergendreau kluwer law international the hague. The philippines initiates an international arbitration case under unclos over chinese claims of sovereignty to the spratly islands and scarborough shoal originating from the april 2012 clashes, acting on decades of stalled attempts at resolution. The archipelagos sprawl over a sea bounded by many territories. Based on this fact, china has laid sovereignty claims to both the paracel islands and the spratly islands in order to maximize its claim of the sea area. The spratly islands were, in 1939, coral islets mostly inhabited by seabirds. Sovereignty over the paracel and spratly islands by monique. Sovereignty dispute over the spratly islands of the phillipines, by vo xuan vinh.
China, vietnam, malaysia, brunei and the philippines form a crown around it. Australian national university vietnam is a claimant in the south china sea disputes. Historical documents on vietnams sovereignty over paracel and spratly islands have 290 words, post on at june 24, 2011. Index introductionspratly island controversy 1 physical features of the spratly islands 1 petroleum and natural gas reserves 1. Spratly islands dispute simulation guide introduction the spratly islands are a disputed group of more than 750 reefs, islands, cays, atolls, and islets in the south china sea that are critical to nations in the region for strategic and economic reasons. Sovereignty over the paracel and spratly islands is the translation into english of a work first published in french by harmattan in 1996, but it has not been updated, except for a few bibliographical references. International law and sovereignty over the paracel and spratly archipelagoes part 16 posted by southeastasiansea. Pdf the spratly islands dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute between. Sovereignty over the paracel and spratly islands brill. This argument, as will be seen in the following chapters, is however immaterial, since sovereignty over an island. The spratly islands dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute between china, taiwan, malaysia, the philippines, vietnam and brunei, concerning territorial sovereignty over the spratly islands. The spratly islands dispute is a regional maritime territorial sovereignty dispute which.
Cordner, the spratly islands dispute and the law of. Gendreau in her work, sovereignty over the paracel and spratly islands. Nguyen thi lan anh stressed that china had located its oil rig in disputed waters in the xisha paracel islands which vietnam claims. On its website, the archipelago is now simply referred to by its conventional name paracel island, and the label china has been deleted. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the south china sea dispute and to analyze why the dispute has yet to escalate, as well as the strategic importance of the south china sea dispute in relation to international trade. Given chinas silence on the meaning of the ninedotted lines, it is not surprising that states in their responses have interpreted the ninedotted lines differently. Competing territorial claims over the south china sea and its resources are numerous, with the most contentious revolving around the spratly islands and paracel islands the xisha and the nansha. Its maritime claims hong thao nguyen the south china sea has long been regarded as a major source of tension and instability in pacific asia. I argue here that while the asean countries have continued to. The spratlys is not the only disputed group of reefs and islands in the south china. Chinas territorial disputes in the south china sea. Pangfei, president of the commission of inquiry into these islands, and to the files on the islands compiled by the department of industry of kwangtung province, the islands lie between longitude 110 and 11247 east.
Chinas claim of sovereignty over spratly and paracel islands. France claimed sovereignty over the spratly and paracel islands in 5, 1988, at 25. The delegates from vietnam, which at that time was a french protectorate, declared sovereignty over the paracel and the spratly islands, which was not opposed by any delegate at the conference. The large number of islands and archipelagos in the area can be categorized into three groups, the paracel islands, macclesfield bank including scarborough shoal, and spratly islands. China has produced a series of proofs to claim its national interest in the south china sea. This, at the very least, detracts from its capacity to throw light on the current state of play. Sovereignty over the paracel and spratly islands in. The spratly islands dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute between china, taiwan, malaysia, the philippines and vietnam, concerning ownership of the spratly islands, a group of islands and associated maritime features reefs, banks, cays, etc. Nobody believes that either wants to go to war over it. The spratly islands, to the south, are far smaller, more dispersed and even more contested. The author investigates the contribution which international law can make towards determining the rights of all parties involved. Vietnam s position on the sovereignty over the paracels.
The battle of the paracel islands was a military engagement between the naval forces of china and south vietnam in the paracel islands on january 19, 1974. On the other hand, malaysia and vietnam have indicated their coasts are entitled to a. President of the commission of inquiry into these islands, and to the files on the islands compiled by the department of industry of. In her rsis commentary dated 9 june 2014 entitled the paracels.
For the dispute over sovereignty to islands in the south china sea the. The south china sea issue and the united nations convention on the. General secretary nguyen phu trong was unanimously reelected during the 12th national congress of vietnams communist party, held january 2128. Chinas sovereignty over the xisha islands and the nansha islands, which were called spratly islands and paracel islands respectively, was challenged by france before world war ii and by the philippines and vietnam after world war ii. International law, conflicting claims, and alternative frameworks for dispute resolution. Vietnams south china sea approach after national congress. In january 1974, during the final stages of the vietnam war, china ejected south vietnam from the paracel islandsa group of tiny maritime features in the south china sea claimed by both nations. Sovereignty over paracel and spratly archipelagoes south. With respect to paracel islands, both vietnam and china claim sovereignty over all maritime features including islands, islets and reefs.
This volume deals with the contested legal status of the paracels and the spratlys, two inhospitable archipelagos located in the south china sea, sovereignty over which is disputed by several states. Fishers and territorial anxieties in china and vietnam. Unclos article 76 and the south china sea disputes. In 1935, the roc government also announced a sovereignty claim on the spratly islands. The battle was an attempt by the south vietnamese navy to expel the chinese navy from the vicinity. International law and the dispute over the spratly islands.
From the perspective of international law, malaysias and bruneis claims of sovereignty over some islands in the truong sa spratly were based on the continental shelf theory, one of the principles in the international law of the sea recognizes the land dominating the sea and only the territory serves as the foundation for. But in the recent months, those disputes have been escalated suddenly because of chinas initiatives claiming its sovereignty over the paracel and spratly islands. Posts about sovereignty over paracel and spratly archipelagoes written by southeastasiansea. Its claims for sovereignty of islands and maritime regions of the sea overlap either wholly or partly with those of brunei, china, taiwan, malaysia. Japan occupied some of the islands in 1939 during world war ii, and it used the islands as a submarine base for the occupation of southeast asia. International law and sovereignty over the paracel and spratly archipelagoes part 14 posted by southeastasiansea. Chapter i background information on the paracels and spratlys. Jun 24, 2011 report confirms china one step closer to gaining airspace control over spratlys. Instead of sovereignty over the paracel and spratly islands, the title of the book should have been a history of sovereignty over the paracel and spratly islands. The exceptions are china, and to a lesser extent vietnam, especially southwest vietnam.
A historical account of this conflict over sovereignty, however, does not provide an overall solution to the problems. China rejects the process, forcing the court and its arbitration to continue without its participation. From the perspective of international law, malaysias and bruneis claims of sovereignty over some islands in the truong sa spratly were based on the continental shelf theory, one of the principles in the international law of the sea recognizes the land dominating. More generally, china has on occasions forced nonchinese fishing. Spratly islands is a group of more than 100 rocks, reefs, islands etc. Islands in the san francisco peace conference of 1951. Indisputable sovereignty over the xisha and nansha islands document of the ministry of foreign affairs of the peoples republic of china january 30, 1980. The paracels are an archipelago consisting of over 30 islands, islets, and reefs stretching over some 16,000 square kilometres of the ocean surface between north latitude 16.
Despite the spratly islands naturally consisting of 19 islands see below, according to a chinese 1986 source, the spratly islands consist of 14 islands or islets, 6 banks, 1 submerged reefs, 35 underwater banks and 21 underwater shoals. International law and sovereignty over the paracel and. Today they push forward a claim of every property in the world that they determine today was at some point, perhaps under their control. First, vietnam will continue to assert its indisputable sovereignty over the paracel hoang sa and spratly truong sa archipelagos, and its legal rights and interests in maritime zones established in accordance with the united nations convention on the law of the sea unclos. Removal of the label china at the paracel island feed. Vietnam considers the ninedotted lines as a sovereignty claim. A balanced threat assessment of chinas south china sea policy. Monique chemilliergendreau, sovereignty over the paracel and. The most recent assertion of sovereignty by viet nam is a statement by prime minister nguy.
Trong, who is less strident than other vietnamese leaders in his criticism of beijings behavior in the south china sea, has been seen as leading the partys more conservative, prochinese faction. The sovereignty disputes over the paracels hoang sa in. The paracel islands in the northern half of the sea are currently controlled by china, but are claimed by taiwan and vietnam. Despite the spratly islands naturally consisting of 19 islands see below, according to a chinese 1986 source, the spratly islands consist of 14 islands or islets, 6 banks, 1 submerged reefs, 35 underwater banks and 21. Sovereignty over the paracel and spratley islands chemilliergendreau, monique on. More than 20 in number, large and small, most of them are barren sandbanks, 10 or so are rocks and 8 are true islands. To clarify the position of claimants is a research task for creating the confidence building measures and promoting efforts to. These lands have little in the way of a continental shelf.
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