{"id":28118,"date":"2024-08-22T18:46:31","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T13:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=28118"},"modified":"2024-10-14T13:04:07","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T07:34:07","slug":"tensions-in-south-china-sea-poses-threat-to-international-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/22-08-2024\/tensions-in-south-china-sea-poses-threat-to-international-trade","title":{"rendered":"Tensions in South China Sea Poses Threat to International Trade\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ International Relations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The rising tensions in the South China Sea are posing a threat to international trade.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>South China Sea<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is a marginal sea of the <strong>Western Pacific Ocean.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is located between <strong>southern China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is a crucial maritime gateway and junction for shipping between the <strong>Pacific and Indian Oceans.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Choke Point in the South China Sea<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>While the current tensions are between <strong>China, the Philippines and Taiwan<\/strong>, the real threat to trade in the Sea comes in the <strong>Malacca Strait.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The strait is the <strong>Choke point<\/strong> in the South China Sea, which lies between <strong>Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Nine Dash Line<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>China stakes claim to 90% <\/strong>of the South China Sea (SCS), and this claim is based on the <strong>U-shaped nine-dash line<\/strong> etched on map in the <strong>1940s<\/strong> by a Chinese geographer.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>He helped to officially name each chunk of rock and reef, referring to the territory collectively as the South China Sea Islands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>These lines cut into the<strong> exclusive economic zones (EEZs), of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In recent years, China has <strong>doubled down on its territorial claims<\/strong> in the SCS, including in the waters off the Philippines, where Chinese vessels have engaged in brazen acts of provocation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/docsz\/AD_4nXe08rdmreEck4OBVYmJgyHzEeKFKpOfCzgu_mqVYLYisuX1QSt5XO0wfM1Z3eU8YTZaG89F5cUjqnqQKfT7wL_l-FEIAhhuITJ58gsC1ylyVzOi9pxwVgjIZAC5Nqd-tRtEDnVTuVPap1AcyzgSyepJ3a0?key=CTSptEIPsgzW0JOx6UdMug\" alt=\"Nine Dash Line\" style=\"width:384px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Importance of the South China Sea for international trade<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to the <strong>United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD),<\/strong> about a third of global maritime trade passes through the <strong>3.5 million square kilometer seaway<\/strong> annually,&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Around <strong>40% of petroleum products<\/strong> traded globally are delivered via the sea every year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 2016, an estimated<strong> $3.6 trillion worth of goods and commodities<\/strong> traveled the seaway.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tens of thousands of cargo vessels move through the South China Sea every year, carrying around <strong>40% of China\u2019s, a third of India\u2019s and 20% of Japan\u2019s trade<\/strong> with the rest of the world.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Out of all of Asia, the three countries\u2019 economic security is most closely tied to the smooth running of the waterway.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why is the South China Sea contested?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to the US Energy Information Administration, the South China Sea is estimated to hold about <strong>5.38 trillion cubic meters<\/strong> of <strong>natural gas<\/strong> and <strong>11 billion barrels of oil reserves<\/strong>,&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The disputed waters also contain <strong>large deposits of rare-earth minerals<\/strong> crucial to China\u2019s technological ambitions, including electric vehicle batteries and advanced electronics.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>China could also <strong>deny foreign military forces,<\/strong> particularly the United States\u2019, access to the maritime region.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Control of the sea lane would allow China to potentially disrupt, or threaten to <strong>disrupt cargo shipments<\/strong> traveling to and from all countries in East and Southeast Asia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The South China Sea is a vital crossroads for both intra-Asian trade as well as for commerce with the rest of the world, especially Europe, the Middle East and Africa.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hence to de-escalate the current tensions in the South China Sea different&nbsp; parties should avoid hostile actions against each other, uphold a more reconciliatory attitude and emphasize the need to cooperate rather than compete.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-economics\/south-china-sea-impact-global-trade-9525932\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>IE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><strong>Further Reading:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/22-08-2024\/tensions-in-south-china-sea-poses-threat-to-international-trade\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/22-08-2024\/tensions-in-south-china-sea-poses-threat-to-international-trade\"><strong>Tensions in South China Sea Poses Threat to International Trade<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The rising tensions in the South China Sea are posing a threat to international trade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28118"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30783,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28118\/revisions\/30783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}