Topic: Territorial Dispute in the South China Sea
Country: Estonia
Delegate Name: Raquel Avila
School: Flint Southwestern Classical Academy
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Estonia position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
Five countries are disputing for the Spratly and Paracel Islands as well as maritime boundaries. The boundaries of these countries overlap causing the issue. The islands contain a lot of natural resources such as oil and natural gas. As these countries dispute about the land, the United Nations Convection on Laws of the Seas (UNCLOS) states that any land masses that are submerged at high tide and/or were previously submerged due to construction cannot be claimed. The land that the five countries are fighting over were previously underwater and had construction done on them meaning that these five counties are not to claim the land masses. The statement should be used to end the dispute, at one time the islands the countries are fighting over were once underwater, and Chine had built a military buildings as well as Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.
There are countries that say they have claimed the land for centuries, others say they have claimed it long before them. For example China, who claims the majority of the land, they say their right to the lands go back to when the islands were regarded as integral parts of the Chinese nation. Meanwhile Vietnam says China never claimed the land until the 1940s. The Vietnamese say they have claimed the islands since the 17th century and have documents to prove it. Under the law of UNCLOS, the land China has claimed using the “nine-dash line” is unlawful. If this is not the case, then why does China refuse to join the arbitration being conducted by the United Nations? The lands claimed by Malaysia and Brunei were based on the UNCLOS.
We understand that China wants control of the islands due to the fact that they are abundant in natural resources including natural gas, oil, and fish. With these resources they are able to have economic growth. We doubt that China will be willing to give up their claims that easily. They are even currently building things on the islands. It may seem unsolvable but it could be solved, a while back Estonia and Russia had similar disputes but over borders. When Estonia joined the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In 2014, both Estonia and Russia signed a border treaty. Although it has not taken affect, there is a treaty agreeing on the borders of Estonia and Russia. Past events can help lead us to a solution for the dispute occurring with the South China Sea.
