Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC)World ...

workshop entitled “Managing Potential Conflicts in
the South China Sea” (MPCSCS) hosted by Indonesia.
Only ASEAN members attended the first meeting.
However, China began attending the workshop
actively starting in 1991.
The South China Sea issue involves both claimants
and non-claimants. Claimants include the countries
that border the area: China, Vietnam, and Philippines. 15
For these countries, the South China Sea conflict is as
much an issue of national sovereignty as it is an energy
issue. For China, it considers its control over the two
archipelagoes as indisputable, and bolstering its
sovereign claims is its main priority. For Vietnam, the
Philippines, and other countries involved, sovereignty
is also an important issue. 16 Given that most of the
countries in the surrounding area have only been
founded within the past 50 years, any loss of territory,
however small, would symbolize the governments’
inability to defend their newly established countries.
Aside from the sovereignty issue, energy resources
that lie under the seabed and large amounts of fish
resources are key flashpoints in this dispute. As the
economies of the claimants continue to grow at a
rapid rate, their hunger for natural resources will
grow as well. the Chinese department of Geology
and Mineral Resources estimated that the area might
contain as much as 17.7 billion tons of oil. Although
western experts think the true amount is smaller than
the Chinese figure, the sheer amount of oil available
for exploitation still make oil a key issue. Each of the
claimants wants to ensure that it is able to undertake
oil exploration in the region without external
intervention. 17
Fishery is another dispute amongst the claimants.
Historically, the South China Sea was known to
be productive for its fishery resources. Recently
however, overfishing by the states in the area has led
to warnings of future shortages. 18 due to population
growth in the surrounding countries, fishing stocks in
the littoral zones have fallen to dangerously low levels.
Consequently, fishing boats of all nationalities have
ventured increasingly further out to sea. However,
due to overlapping claims in the open sea, fleets of
boats from multiple countries often aggressively fish
in the same areas, leading to severe depletion in fish
stocks in the greater South China Sea area. 19
Non-claimants also have a strong interest in
outcome of the South China Sea issue. Many
countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, and
even the United States have an economic interest
in preserving open navigation through the region.
Almost one-fourth of the world’s trade passes
through this region. 20
The Diaoyu Conflict
The Diaoyu Islands.
The Diaoyu Islands (in Chinese) or Senkaku Islands
(in Japanese) are a tiny group of eight islands in the
East China Sea. The eight islands total 6.4 square
kilometers in total, of which only two are over one
square kilometer. None are currently inhabited or
have had any kind of reported human activity. 21 the
islands are located 120 nautical miles northeast of
Taiwan, 200 nautical miles southwest of Okinawa,
and 230 nautical miles east of the Chinese mainland.
Given this unique location, the islands are of strategic
interest for both China and Japan’s defense. Securing
sovereignty over the islands would grant the owner
an advantage in military security. 22
The Diaoyu/Senkaku islands are also lucrative
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