South China Sea Part 1

This is a BIG deal. There are a few places on Earth where a major war could erupt between nuclear powers,,This is one of them. 

The South China Sea is disputed by many nations, has lots of trade pass through it and the nations disputing possession are in an arms race. 

Here is an interesting interactive map and article from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington D.C. think tank.  

https://amti.csis.org/chinas-big-three-near-completion/

[An excellent primer on Chinese SCS claims can be found HERE at the Council on Foreign Relations, publisher of the esteemed journal Foreign Affairs. ]

China claims most of the South China Sea (SCS)  based on a map called the “9 dash line” that dates way, way back to the mid 20th century. The Chinese claim this as evidence they have owned the islands of the SCS for centuries and thus the “territorial” waters around them. 

Despite the fact these “islands” are only reefs, and not islands it has not prevented the Chinese from occupying them.  Over the past few decades, with the most significant work being done over the past 5 years, the Chinese have created man-made islands out of these reefs. They have airfields, helipads, radar sites, fortifications along with facilities to garrison troops there. Quite industrious.

Many other nations claim areas of the SCS as you can see according to the map. The SCS is disputed for a few reasons, fishing rights, natural resources and trade routes. Lots of trade goes thru here and this trade is critical to the Chinese economy. If they can control these sea lanes they have greater flexibility if a conflict were to erupt.  The Chinese have the upper hand regardless of what courts say as possession is 9/10ths of the law, as is evident with Russia and the Crimea.  

The SCS has been the location of several incidents involving the Chinese military against the US, Vietnam and The Philippines, to name a few. The US conducts freedom of navigation operations near these islands to show our disapproval of Chinese occupation and fortification and to state these are international waters subject to no one single nation. 

If you look at the larger map you will notice that in order for trade to reach the SCS or leave the SCS to/from Europe, Africa or the M.E. its gotta go through some of the world's most heavily trafficked maritime choke points.  This will be a post for another day. Why control the SCS,,if you cant control access to it from the west?