On January 22, 2013, the Philippines shook up decades of stagnation in discussions with China over their territorial disputes in the South China Sea – known as the West Philippine Sea in Manila – by initiating an international arbitration process under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) over recent Chinese actions

These disputes concern sovereignty over the Spratly Islands, Scarborough Shoal and the rich maritime resources around them. [READ MORE]

The Department of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines presents its compliments to the Embassy of the People's Republic of China and, with respect to the dispute with China over the maritime jurisdiction of the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea, the Government of the Philippines has the honor to submit the attached Notification under Article 287 an Annex VII of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Statement of Claim on which the Notification is based, in order to initiate arbitral proceedings to clearly establish the sovereign right and jurisdiction of the Philippines over its maritime entitlements in the West Philippine Sea.

The Government of the Philippines has initiated these arbitral proceedings in furtherance of the friendly relations with China, mindful of its obligation under Article 279 of UNCLOS to seek a peaceful and durable resolution of the dispute in the West Philippine Sea by the means indicated in Article 33 (1) of the Charter of the United Nations. [READ MORE]

Ties between China and Japan have been repeatedly strained by a territorial row over a group of islands, known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and the Diaoyu islands in China.

The BBC looks at the background to the row. [READ MORE]...

This report represents policy and oversight issues for Congress arising from (1) maritime territorial disputes involving China in the South China Sea (SCS) and East China Sea (ECS) and (2) an additional dispute over whether China has a right under international law...

[Click here to download the document].

1. Foreword

The East Sea dispute is one of the most complex territorial disputes in the world. The complexity of the East Sea dispute comes from complicated sovereignty claims of many countries for overlapping areas. Moreover, it is not only a dispute on the aspects of international law, on maritime border and sea territory but also involves strategic interests, especially the control of maritime transport routes and the exploitation of marine resources, including oil and gas.

The international disputes in the East Sea have drawn the attention of Vietnamese and foreign scholars since the second half of the 1980s in the 20th century, especially after China seized seven underwater reefs in the Truong Sa archipelago (Spratly) in March 1998. Their studies follow three directions:

Foreword

The East Sea security is seeing unusual developments as disputes have been pushed to a new level of seriousness. Legal maritime boundaries have been denied, security maintaining mechanisms have been neutralised and the balance of power in this waters has become unstable, threatening to erode other key strategic balances in the whole Western Pacific belt.

“Whoever rules the World Island commands the World”

Halford J. Mackinder

Tran khanh*

Preamble

The dispute over sovereignty in the East Sea, first of all over the Hoang Sa (Pracel or Paracels) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos, had begun right after World War II. However, it has escalated to a pretty serious level since the end of the first decade of the 21^st century as several concerned countries had taken tough actions to claim sovereignty in the area.

At present, major issues in the East Sea dispute are territorial sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes and overlapping claims of sovereign rights over territorial waters. Besides, recent emerging elements are clashes over the rights of coastal states and other nations that use the sea, mainly between the US and China, regarding military vessels’ activities in exclusive economic zones.

The Hoang Sa (Paracel) and the Truong Sa (Spratly) are the two archipelagoes to the East of the Vietnamese coast in the East Sea⁽¹⁾. The closest point of the Hoang Sa is about 170 nautical miles from the central city of Da Nang and about 120 nautical miles from the Re island, a near-shore island of Vietnam. While, the Truong Sa is about 250 nautical miles from the Cam Ranh Bay, Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province, at its closest point.