Topic: Territorial Dispute in the South China Sea
Country: Yemen
Delegate Name: Dominic Lannon
School: East Grand Rapids High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Yemen position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
The dispute over the South China Sea began this past May when China built an oil rig in the Paracel islands in the South China Sea. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a nation cannot take claim of sea territory less than 200 miles from another nation. China, in this situation, is breaking this law by building an oil rig 120 miles from the Vietnamese coastline. Vietnam is using China’s violation of this law to argue that China is overstepping their boundaries. China however, is arguing that because of a military victory over Vietnam in 1974 in the Battle of the Paracel Islands, they now own the Paracel Islands and this allows them 200 miles of sea territory past the Paracel islands (ic.galegroup.com).
China is an important trade partner of Yemen. The history of the area itself however, is older than Yemen as a country. The Republic of Yemen was founded in 1990 after uniting North and South Yemen, each gaining their freedom at a different time, North Yemen in 1918 from the Ottoman Empire and South Yemen in 1967 from Great Britain. The conflict in the South China Sea began in 1974 when China beat Vietnam in the Battle of the Paracel Islands.
Within the UN, Yemen is one of the less powerful countries and one of the younger ones as well. This means Yemen has not as much of a say as more powerful countries in the matter but still believes China is able to this because they won the battle against Vietnam and now they own a landmass able to sustain a population, applying the UNCLOS law and giving China power over the area and natural resources. It is important for China to get these resources as China is Yemen’s primary trade partner with 15.9% of Yemen’s imported goods from China and 28.3% of their goods going to China. (cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/)
Yemen believes that China should be allowed to use an oil rig on the Paracel Islands, as they did rightfully win the land, but not be allowed to use the UNCLOS law to expand their territory 200 miles. This uses the right to land won by war to grant China the islands and all natural resources in the islands. However, the islands aren’t big enough to sustain a large enough population to allow the UNCLOS law to take place. This allows a resolution for China to maintain its control over the islands without Vietnam losing control of their waters granted to them by the UNCLOS law.
