ASEAN & The South China Sea Dispute

Question 1

What was the context behind the South China Sea Dispute?

Answer 1

1951: China’s Treaty of Peace signed with Japan after WWII states that Japan renounces all right, title and claim to the Spratly and Paracel Islands

Did not state who these islands belong to in the Treaty → Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia began to contest for the islands as their territory

Spratlys: Vietnam vs China (+Taiwan) vs Malaysia vs Brunei vs Philippines

Paracels: Vietnam vs China (+Taiwan)

Scarborough Shoal: China vs Philippines

Question 2

What were the motivations for the SCS Dispute?

Answer 2

Apart from nationalist sentiments and historical legal arguments put forth to support territorial claims, the stance of claimants are evidently driven by strategic considerations due to the resource-rich nature of these islands

Allegedly 11 billion tons of untapped oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas
One of the World’s richest commercial fishing areas and busiest shipping lanes in the world

Question 3

19-20 Jan 1974

Answer 3

Battle of the Paracel Islands:
South Vietnamese navy tried to expel the Chinese navy from the vicinity but was utterly defeated. Beijing swiftly exploited the naval victory with an amphibious landing in force to complete its control of all the Paracel Islands.

Question 4

14 Mar 1988

Answer 4

Johnson South Reef skirmish:
Altercation between Sino and Vietnamese forces over who would annex the Johnson South Reef (near the Spratly Islands) which saw the tactical and strategic defeat of Vietnamese forces at Chinese hands

Question 5

1990s

Answer 5

Escalation of SCS dispute

After common objective of isolating Vietnam no longer pertinent to China and ASEAN
China’s preference for a bilateral approach proved to be an obstacle towards cooperation (ASEAN wanted a multilateral approach)

Question 6

Feb 1992

Answer 6

China passes Law on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone

Explicitly asserted claims to various territories in the South China Sea - Spratlys, Paracels, Diaoyutai

deemed as alarming → explicitly stipulated China’s right to use of force to protect its islands and was clearly intended to intimidate other smaller claimant states

Question 7

July 1992

Answer 7

ASEAN Joint Declaration on South China Sea
Urged for peaceful resolution without force
Restraint and exploration of cooperation
Application of principles of TAC as code of conduct
China’s Foreign Minister agreed with the principles underlying the declaration but could not adhere to it as it was an ASEAN statement, in the drafting of which China was not involved.

Question 8

Feb 1995

Answer 8

Mischief Reef Incident:
Philippines discovers that China had erected metal structures on Mischief Reef (China started since 1994)
(with living quarters and satellite dishes)

Question 9

Apr 1995

Answer 9

ASEAN-China Senior Officials Meetings (SOM)
China senior officials agreed to an informal discussion about Spratlys
Despite China’s initial reluctance to even discuss disputes about the South China Sea
Leaders and officials have over time accepted that this issue would be broached and tabled in several multilateral meetings

Question 10

May 1995

Answer 10

1st ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)
China prohibited Mischief Reef from being on the ARF agenda → ASEAN states forced to accede to her demands

Question 11

Aug 1995

Answer 11

2nd ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)
China Foreign Minister declared prior to the ARF that it was willing to hold multilateral talks on SCS issue
Second ASEAN-China SOM: Beijing reaffirmed its readiness to settle questions of matters of maritime jurisdiction in accordance with international law

(First ARF was held in Bangkok in 1994)

Question 12

1996

Answer 12

China ratified (consented to) the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) but opted out of its dispute settlement mechanism

Question 13

1997

Answer 13

Third Asean-China SOM:
South China Sea dispute emerged as formal agenda point for consultations
China agrees to deal with ASEAN collectively on the SCS question; acquiesced in open ARF discussion on the matter → ASEAN stopped raising it as contentious issue in international forums

Question 14

1998

Answer 14

China continued to construct unilateral structures on Mischief Reef

Question 15

1999

Answer 15

Negotiations between ASEAN and China dragged on

Only in 1999 did China agree to launch discussions with ASEAN on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea

Question 16

2002

Answer 16

Declaration of Conduct on the South China Sea
An attempt to establish norms in disrupted region; but negotiations on Code of Conduct still ongoing
Agreement to refrain from inhabiting on presently uninhabited islands
Continue regular consultations on observance of the declaration
Work for eventual adoption of genuine and binding code of conduct

Ultimately: efforts at developing a more binding code of conduct floundered → China reverted to its old insistence on dealing with ASEAN states bilaterally → and even accused ASEAN of undermining the spirit of 2002 declarations by insisting on mutual consultations before speaking to China