Bronwyn,

The islands that China has built in the south china sea in the economic zones of other Asian countries are a direct infringement of the sovereignty of those countries. The main result of which is that these countries are shoring up their ties with the US and are arming themselves against further Chinese aggression as are Taiwan and Japan. The AUKUS and Quad alliances are some of the more powerful responses.

Similarly, China's abuse of trade rules is seeing a backlash and China is no longer a trusted partner of pretty much anyone.

Shadowminister

For centuries China quite naturally viewed the oceans around it as exclusive Chinese possessions to be used for fishing and navigation. There wasn't a need for any legal process to claim possession. The Chinese are only now claiming the right of possession that they'd always assumed they had. The US has for years invasively charted and gathered intelligence in Chinese waters. China is only now reaching out and establishing ocean-based footholds as Western powers have always done. Vietnam and the Philippines are in the same position, and yes, some overlapping claims have now developed. These differences are for the countries themselves to negotiate. There's no need for US-led interference. AUKUS and the Quad alliance are nothing more than aggressive bully-boy groupings whose sole intent is to contain China. They will do nothing but militarise and nuclearise the Indo-Pacific. Yes, a few of the region’s nations might be shoring up their ties with the US, but the majority are extremely concerned at the increasing militarisation of their region and in particular the AUKUS plans for nuclear subs.

China has a good record of complying with international trade rules and with any WTO rulings made against it. Most countries, apart from the US, Australia and a few others, have little problem in trading with China. It was Trump in 2018 who began the trade wars between the US and China. It was Australia's fawning to the US and banning Huawei in 2012 which began the unraveling of trade relations between Australia and China. China has responded to trade war provocation. It didn't cause it. And most of the backlash you refer to is being fomented by the US.

Browyn,

By the international laws of the sea that China has signed up to, China has no claim to the waters in the south china sea.

Your statement that there are overlapping claims to be negotiated is pure Chinese propaganda. Are you paid for this BS?

President Xi put it simply; The US is not a sovereign country and
it follows that he also considers all other countries as vassal states.
He gave his grounds for this as China did not attend the Westphalia
Conference in 16th century, China is not bound by that convention that
defines what is a sovereign country.
Therefore all other countries are Vassal states to the Central Kingdom.
Therefore China can apply its own rules everywhere.
This it has proceeded to do.

So as only Chinese rules apply ultimately, it might for convenience
sake go along with others rules, but they are not binding.
It is about time that more publicity is given to this Chinese attitude.

Shadow Minister; are you sure China signed up to the Law of the sea ?
Is there a qualification to any such signing ?
I thought they did not even defend the case in the Hague.
I wonder if there is any extension of the Westphalia convention to
the Law of the Sea ?

Shadowminister

China has a strong claim to the South China Sea. In its own words, “The activities of the Chinese people in the South China Sea date back to over 2,000 years ago. China is the first to have discovered, named, and explored and exploited Nanhai Zhudao and relevant waters, and the first to have exercised sovereignty and jurisdiction over them continuously, peacefully and effectively, thus establishing territorial sovereignty and relevant rights and interests in the South China Sea.”

There are definitely areas of overlap between claims made by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan and the Philippines. Rightly or wrongly, all these countries believe they have a natural territorial claim, hence the disputes. The disputes have intensified with population and fishing pressures forcing countries further afield to maintain their catch. One country which has absolutely no claim to this area is the US.

The US military has aggressively violated China’s airspace and coastal waters for many years. It is actively violating the human rights of Indigenous peoples in Guam, Hawai’i, the Marianas, Okinawa, and other pristine islands in the Asia-Pacific. The US’s militarization of these regions is causing mass environmental devastation of sacred ancestral coral reefs and carbon-sequestering forests, while oppressing and harming Indigenous Pacific Islanders through military exercises and accidents, military crime and the poisoning of drinking water. It’s the US, not China, which is the criminal aggressor in the South China Sea.