We introduced the EGALITARIAN SHARED SOVEREIGNTY last
time. Today we will present some key elements related to the South China Sea.
From our
previous posts, we have learnt so far that some of the main concerns related to
the South China Sea are:
Borders
This could be a matter of controversy. In the
particular case of the South China Sea, although it may seem that borders are
not an issue—as the difference has to do with several islands—the exclusive
economic zone often creates tension between many of the claiming parties. For
instance, who has the right to explore that exclusive sea-zone? What happens in
the zone in which to or more claiming parties overlap? As this point is
intrinsically linked to natural resources, it will be examined after
introducing the latter.
Defense
National defense will be seen here as the protection
of any interest a State has—e.g. possessions, territory, and population—through
different means—e.g. military, economic, and diplomatic. There are several
States in which the army and navy are not big, well equipped or trained enough
in order to defend their territory or population but they are still respected
as States. There are others that in fact do not have military defense at all,
their defense being the responsibility of another country or an international
organization—e.g. OTAN.
There seems to be no problem with defense. The
territory being defended is obviously desirable although the task is one which
can be shared. However, what would happen if another party—i.e. a sovereign
State with no part in the conflict—decided to invade the third territory? In
the hypothetical scenario a fourth party decided to invade the South China Sea,
who would defend the area? The ways in which the situation may develop are as
follows:
a) China and the neighbor countries may remain
neutral; consequently the new agent would take over the area if the inhabitants
were unable to defend themselves (or in the case of uninhabited islands or the
sea);
b) one of the sovereign States may respond to the
invasion and defend the third territory;
c) all sovereign States may respond to the invasion
and defend jointly or independently the area.
Natural
resources
Natural resources are any material in raw condition
present in the territory, organic or mineral, that is not initially a product
of any kind of human activity. Some States are rich in natural resources,
others are not: no particular amount of natural resources defines a State. But,
the distribution of natural resources is usually one of the main problems when
dealing with sovereignty disputes even though the involved sovereign States may
already be wealthy ones; it is a feature that always presents controversy.
In the case of the South China Sea any decision over
this point has particular importance since it could affect the future the legal
and political balance in the region.
Next time both are combined (the EGALITARIAN SHARED
SOVEREIGNTY and the elements below) to offer a potential ideal solution.
NOTE: based on Chapter 7, Núñez, Jorge Emilio. 2017. Sovereignty Conflicts and
International Law and Politics: A Distributive Justice Issue. London and New York:
Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.
Jorge Emilio Núñez
Twitter:
@London1701
25th September 2018
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