Date de publication:
09 Novembre 2012
Mots-clefs:
- Chine
- géopolitique
- working papers
- Asie du Sud Est
- publication
- Philippines
- relations internationales
Publié ici :
09 Novembre 2012Mis à jour le :
24 Juin 2017Zone géographique:
- Asie
Les Notes de l’Irasec : Geopolitics of Scarborough Shoal
François-Xavier Bonnet
Bangkok, Les Notes de l'Irasec, n°14, 2012, 42 p.
Scarborough is the largest atoll in the South China Sea, located some 220 kilometers from the Philippines. The shoal is located inside the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines but is claimed by China as its ancestral territory since the 13th century. The paper considers the strategic importance of the shoal for the two countries. Then, using unpublished records and documents from China, the Philippines, and the United States, the author will show that the two countries claimed Scarborough Shoal in the 1930s, each without the knowledge of the other, and performed few actions that asserted their sovereignty up to the 1990s. Finally, the study raises up the lack of solidarity of the ASEAN countries, and the possibility of the United States and the Philippines invoking the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951 in case of an escalation of violence in the area.
Introduction
Scarborough Shoal (Bajo de Masingloc and Panatag for the Philippines or Huangyan Island for China), located some 220 kilometers from the province of Zambales (Luzon Island, Philippines), is, since 1997, a bone of contention between the Philippines and China. Scarborough is the largest atoll in the South China Sea, submerged at high tide with few rocks above sea level, but was largely unheard-of before the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1994. The shoal is located inside the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Philippines but is claimed by China as its ancestral territory since the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). For the Chinese authorities, Huangyan Island is part of a larger archipelago called Zhongsha Qundao comprising mostly underwater features (like Macclesfield Bank) located in the northern part of the South China Sea. The stakes are high. The few rocks of Scarborough Shoal are the only features of Zhongsha Qundao above sea level. If China loses these rocks, it would not only lose the natural resources around the shoal (fishing grounds and the potential deposits of polymetallic nodules4) but also the possibility of claiming Zhongsha Qundao and, by consequence, the whole of the South China Sea. This conflict, recurrent year after year during the fishing season, worsened from April to July 2012. To settle the issue once and for all, the Philippine government invokes the possibility of bringing the matter to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). In a first part of this paper, we consider the strategic importance of the shoal for the two countries, in the context of UNCLOS. Then, using unpublished records and documents from China, the Philippines, and the United States, we will show that the two countries claimed Scarborough Shoal in the 1930s, each without the knowledge of the other, and performed few actions that asserted their sovereignty up to the 1990s. Finally, we analyze, the lack of solidarity of the ASEAN countries and its impact on conflict resolution, and the possibility of the United States and the Philippines invoking the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951 in case of an escalation of violence in Scarborough Shoal.
(...)
Table of content
1. What is at stake? Scarborough Shoal and UNCLOS
1.1. The 2012 standoff between China and the Philippines
1.2. Scarborough Shoal an island? The Chinese perception
1.3. Remembering Mischief: the Philippines and Scarborough Shoal
2. Who owns the shoal? A geohistorical perspective
2.1. A forgotten claim? The Philippines and Scarborough Shoal
2.1.1. Of wrecks, surveys, and rescue operations: Scarborough Shoal in the 19th century
2.1.2. Scarborough Shoal and the Commonwealth of the Philippines (1935-1941): a forgotten claim?
2.2. Of ancient texts and maps: the Chinese claim
2.2.1. The myth of an old claim?
2.2.2. China and Scarborough Shoal: a modern claim
2.3. Scarborough Shoal: between smuggling and territorial claims
3. The legal documents vs. the “U-shape line: strategic ambiguity
3.1. The legal documents of the Philippines and Scarborough Shoal
3.2. The “U-shape line” and Chinese ambiguity
4. ASEAN, China, and the United States: managing the disputes?
4.1. Discord in the ASEAN family
4.2. The South China Sea disputes: an American “conundrum”
Conclusion
Annex 1 : Ancient Administrative Maps of China
Annex 2 : Transcriptions of some records, concerning Scarborough Shoal, in the Bureau of Insular Affairs papers (BIA) in the U.S. National Archives Records Administration (NARA)
Par François-Xavier Bonnet, géographe et chercheur associé à l'IRASEC.
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