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China's SCS ambitions and the 21st century maritime silk road
Indonesia is not merely a bystander and its Global Maritime Axis still remains relevant, whatever the outcome of the ongoing dispute between Southeast Asia's claimant countries and China's increasingly assertive actions in the South China Sea.
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China Coast Guard vessels fire water cannons on March 5, 2024 toward the Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah en route on a resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. (Reuters/Adrian Portugal)
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hina's ambition to dominate the South China Sea (SCS) is suspected to be part of its strategic agenda to become the world's top nation in place of the United States, which is beginning to decline.
By controlling the strategic maritime region, China will subsequently control the Andaman Sea in the Indian Ocean, provided that construction is realized on the Kra Canal in Thailand, financed by China and equipped with Chinese technology.
President Xi Jinping initiated in 2013 the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, a maritime route from the SCS connecting Southeast Asia to Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa that is significant to China achieving its grand dream of becoming a superpower. This action agenda is being carried out by building connectivity facilities, establishing economic, industrial maritime security and maritime cultural cooperation with the coastal countries along the route.
In such a context, China's resolve to make the SCS its territorial waters is intertwined with its ambitions as a major world power, because the sea is the gateway to the world's maritime trade from the western Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean, and then on to the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
Beijing has consistently claimed that 90 percent of the SCS is Chinese territory, arguing that it has historically been its traditional fishing grounds. This claim was crowned in 1947 by creating the "nine-dash line" without regard to the 2016 decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which rejected China's claim as contrary to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
China has also consistently ignored the protests of other claimant countries. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Taiwan all oppose China's actions in the SCS, which have become increasingly aggressive year by year. In fact, since August 2023, China has expanded its nine-dash line into 10 by incorporating Taiwan’s waters.
China has followed its firm stance in asserting its claim to the SCS by taking possession of Subi Reef, Fiery Cross Reef, Mischief Reef and Woody Island to turn them into military bases. These bases are equipped with mooring facilities, airfields and independent defense systems.
