Countries’ plans over the South of China Sea dispute.

Countries such as the USA and China, together with its allies have contradictory intentions and are doing everything to protect their ideals.

By: Francesca Crestani - BBC

In the first committee session, countries have already started to work with their allies in order to protect their interests in the SCS dispute, the western side has mentioned the need to start an “Asian NATO”, and to protect the islands’ sovereignty while still being on track with international law, however, China continues to stress that the islands are rightfully their and won’t give an inch of land away. 

During the first committee session of the Security Council at this conference, countries were able to already express their judgments on the topic and started to craft further plans in order to protect countries’ interests. Furthermore, states like the US, France, Philippines, and others have been completely opposed to Chinese and its allies' ideals, and even stated the possible start of an Asian NATO in order to protect the sovereignty of the South of China Sea islands. On the other hand, China and its allies have stated that those islands are Chinese due to historical reasons.
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China’s biggest claim over the islands is its historical background, which can be traced back thousands of years ago, “justifying” the nine-dash line that circles the territory where the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands and Pratas Islands are located. Additionally, China has also stated that they will leave the marine trade passages open for commercial ships to pass; however, there will be military implemented in the area to “assure the safety” of Chinese territory, as stated by the country’s representative itself, “for the US not to send a submarine and try to claim the islands”. Moreover, the passage in the south of China’s sea is crucial for international product trade and produces annually around $5 trillion USD, which is why the US, together with its Western allies, have mentioned that they are only working on what international law is protecting and that they aren’t doing anything against it, although they do have military in the area, and state that if they get free trespassing in the passage, they will be removed. They also stated the fact that 3 fishermen died while being in the passage, and when asked China about it, they confirmed that they had killed those people with an “accidental” shipping boat hit. Lastly, China has already tried to buy other countries’ silence, and the state of Laos has confirmed that although they were in a neutral position on this issue, they are willing to join the Chinese side as mentioned, “we already have a historical alliance background, but we’ll also receive a huge economic boost if this partnership is made”.

    To conclude, almost all countries stated that they want this conflict to end through peaceful means and are willing to end it with diplomatic agreements; however, because of the recent military implementations, potential tension has been installed.