The disputes over the South China Sea are complex, and they overlap and collide in complex ways. At stake are questions of ownership, demarcation, rights of passage and access to resources — fish, oil and gas. The resulting imbroglio implicates all six claimants, not only China but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam as well. It is wrong to blame China alone for all that has happened in the South China Sea — nationalist moves, stalemated diplomacy and the potential for escalation.
That said, no other claimant has come even close to matching the speed and scale of China's efforts. In just two years, unannounced and unilateral acts of dredging and reclamation have created more than 1,295 hectares of usable hard surface on the seven features that China occupies in the Spratlys. Ports, runways, buildings and barracks have been built to accommodate military or civilian ships, planes and personnel. Radar systems have been installed. Floating nuclear-energy platforms are envisioned.
Seen from Beijing, these are not matters of Chinese foreign policy. Under Chinese law, most of the South China Sea is part of Hainan province — in effect, a Chinese lake. In Beijing's eyes, these vast waters and their bits of natural and artificial land are already in China's possession and under its administration — a conviction embodied in the ban on foreigners who fish in them without China's prior permission.
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