vtnsx
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How would China, or the rest of the world for that matter, react if Washington demanded that vessels traversing the Pacific Ocean first seek the permission of the United States? In fact, the UNCLOS definition of islands requires that they be inhabited and support an economy. 7 Because the American islands mentioned are inhabited, in some cases with robust economies, the American claim would be far stronger than China's claim to uninhabited islands and submerged reefs of the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos.
For its part, Beijing cannot demonstrate that Chinese ever inhabited the Spratly or Paracel Islands, because they are uninhabitable. There are no sources of fresh water, and these low and in some cases submerged features are seasonally exposed to the monsoons of the region. Today, the only permanent populations of these islands and reefs are military garrisons maintained at immense expense to their respective governments and at great personal risk to the members of the garrisons.
Beijing also cites various vague, questionable, and off-point historical writings supposedly dating back more than 2,000 years in its attempt to document its claimed sovereignty over the South China Sea. 8 Without doubt, Chinese explorers and fisherman sailed the South China Sea for thousands of years and recorded their exploits, but it is equally clear that the Chinese traditionally have viewed Hainan Island as the southernmost outpost of their civilization, certainly until the end of the 19th century. 9
Finally, ancient Chinese records do not nullify the rights of the indigenous Philippine, Malaysian, and Bruneian peoples. The ancestors of today's Filipinos, Malaysians, and Bruneians arrived on those archipelagos long before written Chinese history. They did not walk to those islands, so they must have sailed or paddled through both the Spratly and Paracel Islands to arrive where they are living today. Although the Spratly and Paracel Islands were too small for habitation, these people settled close to these islands and reefs and must be assumed to have fished and economically exploited them at least as much as the Chinese did.
source:
Paracel and Spratly Islands Forum: U.S. Role in South China Sea Dispute
For its part, Beijing cannot demonstrate that Chinese ever inhabited the Spratly or Paracel Islands, because they are uninhabitable. There are no sources of fresh water, and these low and in some cases submerged features are seasonally exposed to the monsoons of the region. Today, the only permanent populations of these islands and reefs are military garrisons maintained at immense expense to their respective governments and at great personal risk to the members of the garrisons.
Beijing also cites various vague, questionable, and off-point historical writings supposedly dating back more than 2,000 years in its attempt to document its claimed sovereignty over the South China Sea. 8 Without doubt, Chinese explorers and fisherman sailed the South China Sea for thousands of years and recorded their exploits, but it is equally clear that the Chinese traditionally have viewed Hainan Island as the southernmost outpost of their civilization, certainly until the end of the 19th century. 9
Finally, ancient Chinese records do not nullify the rights of the indigenous Philippine, Malaysian, and Bruneian peoples. The ancestors of today's Filipinos, Malaysians, and Bruneians arrived on those archipelagos long before written Chinese history. They did not walk to those islands, so they must have sailed or paddled through both the Spratly and Paracel Islands to arrive where they are living today. Although the Spratly and Paracel Islands were too small for habitation, these people settled close to these islands and reefs and must be assumed to have fished and economically exploited them at least as much as the Chinese did.
source:
Paracel and Spratly Islands Forum: U.S. Role in South China Sea Dispute
