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Beijing names islands in disputed South China Sea
BEIJING, April 21, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – China on Tuesday defended its
naming of 80 islands and other geographical features in the South
China Sea in a move likely to anger neighbours as the country asserts
its territorial claims.
A joint announcement of the names on Sunday from the Ministry of
Natural Resources and the Ministry of Civil Affairs came a day after
China established new administrative districts for the contested
Spratly and Paracel island chains.
The notice listed the Chinese names and coordinates of 80 islands,
reefs, seamounts, shoals and ridges, 55 of them submerged in water.
China last released such a list in 1983 when it named 287
geographical features across the disputed waterway.
Beijing has repeatedly asserted its sovereignty in the sea despite
rival claims by Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and other nations.
“No state can claim sovereignty over underwater features unless they
are within 12 nautical miles of land. So is China ignorant of this or
deliberately trying to overturn international law?” said Bill Hayton,
associate fellow at British think tank Chatham House.
“China has ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
which is very clear on what states can and cannot claim as territory.
Yet China seems to be going against UNCLOS by asserting sovereignty in
very far away places.”
In recent years, Beijing has stepped up its territorial claims in
the South China Sea by building artificial islands and a heavy
military presence, making it a flashpoint for geopolitical tensions.
China angered Vietnam after announcing at the weekend that the
Paracel and Spratly islands, the Macclesfield Bank and their
surrounding waters would be administered under two new districts of
Sansha city, which China created on nearby Woody Island in 2012.
Vietnam claimed the move “seriously violated” its territorial
sovereignty in the area.
In response, China’s foreign ministry said Tuesday the Spratly and
Paracel islands are its “innate territories” and that Vietnam’s claims
are “illegal”.
Earlier this month Vietnam lodged an official complaint with China
and the UN saying Beijing illegally sank a fishing trawler near the
Paracel Islands, killing eight people on board.
As a result, the United States warned China not to take advantage of
the coronavirus pandemic to assert itself in the South China Sea.
BSS/AFP/MRU/1708hrs