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Indonesia renamed part of South china sea
July 18 , 2017
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- Indonesia has renamed the northern reaches of its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea as the “North Natuna Sea” on July 14, 2017.
- It is the latest act of resistance by Southeast Asian nations to China’s territorial ambitions in the maritime region.
- Part of the renamed area falls in China’s “nine-dash line” - waters extending hundreds of miles to the south and east of China’s island province Hainan.
- Indonesia is not the first country to rename part of the South China Sea.
- In 2011, the Philippines renamed the waters as the “West Philippine Sea” and two years later took the territorial dispute before an international tribunal at The Hague.
- In July 2016, the tribunal ruled in favour of the Philippines, concluding that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea.
South China Sea Dispute
- China has been aggressively claiming the entire South China Sea as its own.
- The other countries that claim the various territories in the South China Sea are Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
- The South China Sea is part of Pacific Ocean spreading an area of some 35 lakh square km with eight littoral countries/territories viz. China, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore and Vietnam.
- It is strategically located in the international shipping route that sees the passage of world’s half of the merchant ships.
- The sea is rich in energy reserves including petroleum, mineral and fishing resources.
- It is made of some 200 tiny islands, coral reefs, shoals, sandbanks etc. grouped into three archipelagos of Spratlys, Paracels and Pratas.
- The Macclesfield Bank and Scarborough Shoal are also part of South China Sea.
- Several countries have made competing territorial claims over the South China Sea. Such disputes have been regarded as Asia’s most potentially dangerous point of conflict.
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