Association of the South East Asian Nations (asean) and the South China Sea Dispute

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Australia , officially called the commonwealth of Australia, is a country and sovereign state in the Southern Hemisphere, located on its own continent between the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. Australia is sixth biggest country in the world by land area and is a part of oceanic and Australasian regions. And now introducing the South China Sea dispute it is the maritime disputes in the South China Sea making impacts on a series of regional bilateral relation and continue to trouble ties between china and association of the South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The spratly islands are claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam the Philippines ,Malaysia and Brunei while the Paracelsus have controlled by china since 1974 and are claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

The South China Sea is one of the worlds most important shipping lanes between $3trillion and $5trillion worth of trade passes through the contested water each year including more than half of the Australia ‘s coal ,iron ore and LNG exports. Australia is in a tricky position, as the United States is the strongest military ally ,while china is the biggest trading partner to Australia . And both the relation are crucial. Ultimately Australia doesn’t want to see the South China militarized and international trade routes compromised. Australia has taken a relatively a neutral position refusing to take side but calling for peaceful solution to the disputes.

The claims made by the parties involved in South China Sea dispute are consisted of historical claims of discovery and occupation and claims that in the extension of sovereign jurisdiction under interpretation of the provision in UNCLOS. China views the South China Sea as an exclusive Chinese sea and claims almost the entire territory.its historical claims are based on the discovery and occupation of the territory. The causes of conflicts were of legal and economic origins. In regard of legal origins, there are two laws and practices on which all the claimants based upon. The first one is law of continuous and effective acts of occupation” the second one is the United Nations convention of the law of the sea (UNCLOS).

The discussion on the Sea dispute of the South China Sea should be made with china as the starting point with the two reasons. First is that china is the primary actor in dispute and china’s stance is decisive of the outcome of the dispute solution. Second is that the china is involved in most of the dispute. The disputes of the South China Sea can be solved the solution which have been used in successful settlement of other disputes. Like: a legal solution by adapting it all claimants will agree to submit the dispute for arbitration to the international court of justice, who will judge the dispute according to the international laws applicable. The only thing that ASEAN nations can do , should they really want to stand together against china, is to first focus on developing the individual countries’s economies and together gradually try to reduce their dependence on Chinese products, markets and aids.

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