On July 13, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released a press statement saying that China’s claims in the South China Sea were “completely unlawful” and that its “nine-dash line” map “offers no coherent legal basis.”
The statement was, of course, strongly opposed by China and decried as “completely unjustified.”
Political rhetoric aside, Pompeo’s argument is indeed legitimate: The “nine-dash line” contravenes international law, not least the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), in two main aspects.
First, its legal terminology is incompatible with the UNCLOS.
For instance, based on the map, China claims to have “indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and the adjacent waters, and enjoys sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the relevant waters.”
However, “adjacent waters” and “relevant waters” remain undefined in the UNCLOS, and there is no specific maritime zone designated to these waters.
In other words, since the map’s terminology does not cohere with the legal definitions of the UNCLOS, China’s claims in the South China Sea disputes, underpinned by the map, are without legal effect.
Second, maps do not constitute titles in international law.
Academics, such as Florian Dupuy and Pierre-Marie Dupuy, have pointed out that “cartographic materials do not by themselves have any legal value.”
This legal principal is highlighted in a 1986 International Court of Justice ruling in the frontier dispute between Burkina Faso and Mali.
According to the court’s press release on the case, “maps merely constitute information, and never constitute territorial titles in themselves alone.”
Furthermore, while maps could be employed “to establish the real facts,” their value depends on both “their technical reliability and their neutrality in relation to the dispute and the parties to that dispute,” it reads.
The “nine-dash line” is not only unreliable due to its inherent legal ambiguity and incompatibility with the UNCLOS, its lack of neutrality is candidly illustrated by other claimants’ formal diplomatic protests in the South China Sea disputes, such as those from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
In short, Pompeo is right. The “nine-dash line” holds no legal value, and neither do China’s claims based on the map.
Hsueh Chin is studying international relations, and global economics and management at Jacobs University Bremen in Germany.
As it has striven toward superiority in most measures of the Asian military balance, China is now ready to challenge the undersea balance of power, long dominated by the United States, a decisive advantage crucial to its ability to deter blockade and invasion of Taiwan by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). America expended enormous treasure to develop the technology, logistics, training, and personnel to emerge victorious in the Cold War undersea struggle against the former Soviet Union, and to remain superior today; the US is not used to considering the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)
The annual summit of East Asia and other events around the ASEAN summit in October and November every year have become the most important gathering of leaders in the Indo-Pacific region. This year, as Laos is the chair of ASEAN, it was privileged to host all of the ministerial and summit meetings associated with ASEAN. Besides the main summit, this included the high-profile East Asia Summit, ASEAN summits with its dialogue partners and the ASEAN Plus Three Summit with China, Japan and South Korea. The events and what happens around them have changed over the past 15 years from a US-supported, ASEAN-led
President William Lai’s (賴清德) first Double Ten National Day address had two strategic goals. For domestic affairs, the speech aimed to foster consensus on national identity, strengthen the country and unite the Taiwanese against a Chinese invasion. In terms of cross-strait relations, the speech aimed to mitigate tensions in the Taiwan Strait and promote the coexistence and prosperity of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in China and the Republic of China (ROC). Lai is taking a different stance from previous Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administrations on domestic political issues. During his speech, he said: “The PRC could not be the
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army is pressuring Taiwan using high intensity tactics to tire out Taiwanese forces and force them into making mistakes, The Economist cited Navy Commander Admiral Tang Hua (唐華) as saying in an interview published on Thursday last week. China is “using an ‘anaconda strategy’ to squeeze the island,” he said, adding that it is “slowly, but surely” increasing its presence around the nation. “They are ready to blockade Taiwan at any time they want,” Tang said. It is welcome to see a high-level official give an interview to international media on this matter. Although Taiwan is one