To Zhongguo/China, the different groups of islands in the South China Sea are known as Xisha, the Western Beach named Ilhas de Pracel by the Portuguese before the French made it Le Paracel), Nansha, the Southern Beach, named Spratly by the Brits, Dongsha, the Eastern Beach, and Pratas for the Central Beach. During the Ming dynasty, the whole group was called Wanglishitang, or “Ten Thousand Miles of Stone Pond” in the book Voyage with the Tail Wind. Zheng He, the legendary navigator and explorer, who might have reached the American continent 80 years before Columbus, allegedly referred to the islands as Wanglishitang, as well.
The islands are more popularly known today as Paracel and Spratly islands, a source of access discord between Taiwan and the PRC, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Vietnam calls the area Hoang Sa, the Yellow beach.
The Taiwan-China disagreement is in-house since each considers the other as part of one whole; the Vietnam-China discord is between cousins. China's Yue Nan before the French called it Vietnam has a contiguous geo-ethnic relation to land and peoples of Yunnan and Hainan. The long historical conflict between these territories makes the claims and counterclaims understandable.
Not so with Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines. Pacific World War II was triggered over maritime control of the Malacca Straits when the U.S. squeezed out the Japanese access to oil and gas developed by the Dutch, English, and the French in the Malayan peninsula and Indochina. Today, maritime tonnage in the South China Sea exceeds the combined crossings of the Suez and Panama canals. Japan and the U.S. are now in the same ship; the force to reckon with flies a red flag with five stars.
A senator in the Philippine legislature of 1933 protested France's annexation of Spratly. Japanese forces occupied the island during WWII and shortly after the cessation of hostilities, some Filipinos wanted the islands included in the sovereign territory of the newly independent Philippines. It was not so. But rumors of minerals and oil proliferated, and shortly before martial law was declared, the Philippines “discovered” and settled some uninhabited islands of the Spratlys.
In 1974, oil gushed out of drillings off Palawan. It did not take long before Pea Eye started calling the eastern part of the Spratlys, Kalayaan (freedom) group, and began naval maneuvers and military occupancy. By 1976, the oil industry estimated the whole basin to contain the fourth largest deposit of natural gas and oil in the world, even larger than Kuwait's. Both Vietnam and China started contracting American companies to assist in drilling for oil, and allegations of encroaching on each other's territory led to military conflict including the well publicized massacre of Vietnamese sailors. In 1978, Ferdinand Marcos declared the Spratlys a part of the Philippines.
If one thinks, as many Americans do, that the Vietnam conflict stems from America's mistaken altruism in defending freedom of nascent democratic folks, think again. The same rhetoric of defense of freedom and democracy justifies our military presence in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The politics of oil is hardly mentioned.
Filipinos last month picketed China's embassy and consulates for the increasing incidences of the Chinese Navy's “harassing” U.S. and Philippine “peaceful” presence in the Spratly Islands, now referred to by the Philippines' Foreign Affairs Department and Pinoy media as West Philippine Sea. Our very own Celia Lamkin, MD, erstwhile appropriate technology center director for the differently-abled, is promoting a prayer vigil on Aug. 21 over the Spratly. At least, the signs are more honest: Protect our oil!
The 1983 UN Convention of the Law of the Sea, which the U.S. Congress has yet to ratify, began to clarify the procedure of establishing the 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) by declaring claims, but the UN has no implementation teeth. Traditionally recognized as a Chinese/Vietnam matter to settle, the EEZs of nations gave a new definition on access and responsibility over mineral rights, fish stock, and the control of pollution in the sea. Suddenly, what was perceived as mere sandbars and rock outcroppings in the South China Sea has become every ones' promised wealth of liquid, gas, and solid minerals when extracted from the ocean floor. Jingoistic patriotism was not too far behind.
Taiwan and Xizang (Tibet) are in-house sovereignty disputes, along with border definitions with India, but the case of South China Sea has the vested interest of Western powers, particularly with the oil companies associated with the colonials that used to rule the territories in the surrounding region. Clearly, China has the upper hand on this one, and the oil companies are the muckrakers who unfortunately have the Pentagon by the balls, and former colonials singing their tune!
Our dual sovereign partition in the CNMI as a nation and a state itself muddies the definition of the 200-mile EEZ but, however we fight that fight even at our own Congress, let us be clear that the icon we serve is oil.
Asked who I work for when in the CNMI, I answer in serious jest: CUC, Shell/Mobil, and IT&E, in that order. So, as to the Spratlys, go ahead, “Sprat me!”
The islands are more popularly known today as Paracel and Spratly islands, a source of access discord between Taiwan and the PRC, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Vietnam calls the area Hoang Sa, the Yellow beach.
The Taiwan-China disagreement is in-house since each considers the other as part of one whole; the Vietnam-China discord is between cousins. China's Yue Nan before the French called it Vietnam has a contiguous geo-ethnic relation to land and peoples of Yunnan and Hainan. The long historical conflict between these territories makes the claims and counterclaims understandable.
Not so with Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines. Pacific World War II was triggered over maritime control of the Malacca Straits when the U.S. squeezed out the Japanese access to oil and gas developed by the Dutch, English, and the French in the Malayan peninsula and Indochina. Today, maritime tonnage in the South China Sea exceeds the combined crossings of the Suez and Panama canals. Japan and the U.S. are now in the same ship; the force to reckon with flies a red flag with five stars.
A senator in the Philippine legislature of 1933 protested France's annexation of Spratly. Japanese forces occupied the island during WWII and shortly after the cessation of hostilities, some Filipinos wanted the islands included in the sovereign territory of the newly independent Philippines. It was not so. But rumors of minerals and oil proliferated, and shortly before martial law was declared, the Philippines “discovered” and settled some uninhabited islands of the Spratlys.
In 1974, oil gushed out of drillings off Palawan. It did not take long before Pea Eye started calling the eastern part of the Spratlys, Kalayaan (freedom) group, and began naval maneuvers and military occupancy. By 1976, the oil industry estimated the whole basin to contain the fourth largest deposit of natural gas and oil in the world, even larger than Kuwait's. Both Vietnam and China started contracting American companies to assist in drilling for oil, and allegations of encroaching on each other's territory led to military conflict including the well publicized massacre of Vietnamese sailors. In 1978, Ferdinand Marcos declared the Spratlys a part of the Philippines.
If one thinks, as many Americans do, that the Vietnam conflict stems from America's mistaken altruism in defending freedom of nascent democratic folks, think again. The same rhetoric of defense of freedom and democracy justifies our military presence in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The politics of oil is hardly mentioned.
Filipinos last month picketed China's embassy and consulates for the increasing incidences of the Chinese Navy's “harassing” U.S. and Philippine “peaceful” presence in the Spratly Islands, now referred to by the Philippines' Foreign Affairs Department and Pinoy media as West Philippine Sea. Our very own Celia Lamkin, MD, erstwhile appropriate technology center director for the differently-abled, is promoting a prayer vigil on Aug. 21 over the Spratly. At least, the signs are more honest: Protect our oil!
The 1983 UN Convention of the Law of the Sea, which the U.S. Congress has yet to ratify, began to clarify the procedure of establishing the 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) by declaring claims, but the UN has no implementation teeth. Traditionally recognized as a Chinese/Vietnam matter to settle, the EEZs of nations gave a new definition on access and responsibility over mineral rights, fish stock, and the control of pollution in the sea. Suddenly, what was perceived as mere sandbars and rock outcroppings in the South China Sea has become every ones' promised wealth of liquid, gas, and solid minerals when extracted from the ocean floor. Jingoistic patriotism was not too far behind.
Taiwan and Xizang (Tibet) are in-house sovereignty disputes, along with border definitions with India, but the case of South China Sea has the vested interest of Western powers, particularly with the oil companies associated with the colonials that used to rule the territories in the surrounding region. Clearly, China has the upper hand on this one, and the oil companies are the muckrakers who unfortunately have the Pentagon by the balls, and former colonials singing their tune!
Our dual sovereign partition in the CNMI as a nation and a state itself muddies the definition of the 200-mile EEZ but, however we fight that fight even at our own Congress, let us be clear that the icon we serve is oil.
Asked who I work for when in the CNMI, I answer in serious jest: CUC, Shell/Mobil, and IT&E, in that order. So, as to the Spratlys, go ahead, “Sprat me!”
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