Evolution of Contemporary Geopolitical Patterns:

South China Sea

Don Zeigler

Old Dominion University – Virginia Beach

National Conference on Geographic Education

August 3, 2013

. . .they learn to think critically about what is revealed and what is hidden in different maps . . .

West York Island / Likas Island

Thitu Island / Pag Asa

World Political Map

South China Sea

Littoral StatesDefinition:• States that have a shoreline

on the South China Sea

• People’s Republic of China• Republic of China (Taiwan)• Vietnam• Philippines• Singapore• Malaysia• Thailand• Cambodia• Brunei• Indonesia

How many independent states are there today?• 195How many independent states border the SCS?• 10

25%

JAPAN#10

INDIA#2

ASEAN = supranational political unit

Boundaries

• How do you claim offshore waters and/or resources?

• You consult the Law of the Sea Convention• From the shoreline of each coastal state:

• 12-mile Territorial Sea• 12-24-mile Contiguous Zone• 200-mile EEZ: Exclusive Economic Zone• 350-mile limit on Continental Shelf Resources

“I will tell him that the Mischief Reef is within our 200-mile EEZ.”

- Philippine President Joseph Estrada, Nov. 13, 1998, on his way to meet with the President of China.

Law of the Sea ConventionArticle 10: Bays---------The foregoing provisions do not apply to so-called "historic" bays, or in any case where the system of straight baselines provided for in article 7 is applied.

Law of the Sea ConventionArticle 121: Regime of Islands

1. An island is a naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide.

3. Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf.

Exercises of Power

Political Organization of

Territory

11 Jul 2013

“China Telecom has continued the project it started this January to deploy 3G mobile technology across the disputed Spratly Islands chain in the South China Sea, by extending its network to the Nansha Red Reef.”

“Filipino mobile operator Smart communications, part of PLDT Group, became the first company to deploy telecoms infrastructure in the disputed territory when it constructed a 2G base station on Pag-Asa Island back in 2005.”

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=fh4rOmBoxA7wQM&tbnid=3CytmZJaqyxJwM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/04/05/oil_and_gas_deposits_in_the_south_china_sea_may_not_even_be_there&ei=T47mUcnNFuSViAKCxYHgDg&psig=AFQjCNEk4UpO2G7MA0dYzxh93Q-HVfC-dA&ust=1374150583457595

More than half of the world's annual merchant fleet tonnage passes through the Straits of Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok, with the majority continuing on into the South China Sea.

Offshore Geography:21st Century Hot Spots

Challenges toPolitical-Territorial Arrangements

IslandsSeas

Ocean Resources

1971 1981 1991 2001 20111971