Spratlys - Nansha Islands of China

12. Peaceful Way Urged to Resolve Nansha Dispute (zt) 2000-06-10

Saturday, June 10, 2000, updated at 19:13

China has an indisputable sovereignty over Nansha Islands, but it remains keen to exploit the rich oil and gas reserve around the islands with other claimants.

The Nansha Islands issue is the most complicated one that needs to be resolved between China and its neighbouring countries. The peaceful settlement of the hotly disputed issue is conducive to creating a sound international climate for China's development in the 21st century.

In May this year, Filipino President Joseph Estrada visited China. The two countries published a statement of bilateral co-operation geared towards the 21st century.

The statement detailed the consensus agreed by the countries on the islands, which is hailed by President Estrada as a milestone in the development of bilateral relations.

The statement systematically reveals China's sincerity to settle the issue peacefully rather than resorting to force.

It reaffirms China's adherence to the universally-recognized 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Both sides reiterated that they would observe the 1995 joint statement between the two countries on the South China Sea and agreed not to take actions that might compound the situation.

China advocates that claimants should strengthen co-operation in the field of marine environmental protection, ocean research and ocean development.

Those views have fully demonstrated China's basic diplomatic policies in settling the dispute.

Any sensible country can see clearly that the Chinese Government is always open-minded and impartial in solving international conflicts, even though those conflicts involve its own vested interest.

China is always a driving force in maintaining the world peace and stability.

This is undoubtedly a heavy blow against those countries which peddle "China threat" theory to other highly credulous countries.

In the statement, both sides pledged to contribute to the signing of a code of good conduct aiming at cooling conflicts in the South China Sea. They were even prepared to discuss joint exploitation of the rich oil and gas reserves around the hotly disputed islands.

In the 1995 joint statement, both sides have expressed similar aspiration.

But the good wishes are yet to be translated into actions.

Some countries tend to misinterpret China's goodwill and regard it as a sign of China's weakness. They often take some actions to complicate or escalate the situation.

The dispute over the sovereignty of the Nansha Islands began in the 1960s.

Before that, there was no divergency over the ownership of the Nansha Islands because China claimed a stake over Nansha Islands and the surrounding water since ancient times.

As early as in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), China began to engage in exploration of this area. The islands later were put under the jurisdiction of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).

However, in modern times, the islands and their adjacent waters suffered from repeated invasions. After China's War of Resistance Against Japan (1937-45), Japan returned the islands that it had occupied in World War II to China. In 1947, the Chinese Government formally mapped South China Sea, which was generally agreed upon by the international community.

However, the widespread international oil crisis kindled many countries' interests in oil-rich Nansha Islands and put the issue under the limelight.

Because of the strategic significance of the islands which are the key passage between the Indian and Pacific oceans, the countries bordering the islands rushed to claim sovereignty over it. Many China-bashing Western nations rode the wave and created conflicts to whip up the tension.

The issue of Nansha Islands was internationalized. The settlement of the Nansha Islands was confronted with many obstacles.

Countries which illegally intruded into the islands rushed to build military facilities, sending warships and planes and conducting military exercises alone or with other countries in the South China Sea.

To further safeguard their interests and reinforce their grip on the islands, those countries fleshed out preferential policies to encourage investors to conduct exploitation activities in their occupied islands and adjacent water.

Big powers stepped in under the excuse of mediating the conflicts. Ignoring the history and the international principle, they trumped up the "China threat" theory and stalled our efforts to settle the Nansha Islands in a peaceful means.

The dispute over Nansha Islands became one chess piece in maintaining their presence in the Asian region.

Given the sensitivity and complexity of the issue, it is not easy to solve the dispute in a short span of time. We should be patient and proceed from maintaining the regional peace and stability.

Go back