Shivani Gadhavi
Published On: January 14, 2022 at 14:50 IST
United States of America State Department recently released a study titled ‘Limits in the Sea’ on January 13, 2022 which focuses on China’s claims over the South China Sea. The Study states that China’s claims over South China Sea are not in alignment with the International Laws.
The Study release by a State Department of USA is the first study that has been published of this kind and it pays attention to the claims that the People’s Republic of China has made over more than 100 features under the waterbed of the South China Sea, which is beyond the territorial limit of any country.
According to the Study, the aforesaid claims and sovereignty of China over these features in the South China Sea is in violation of the International Laws prescribed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982.
The People’s Republic of China has made these claims and has given one reason of the claim being ‘historic rights’ over the South China Sea. The Study has dismissed this reason as being baseless in regards with law and has stated that China has not specified the nature or geographic extent of these ‘historic rights’.
The Study states that China “unlawfully claims sovereignty or some form of exclusive jurisdiction over most of the South China Sea…For this reason, the United States and numerous other states have rejected these claims in favor of the rules-based international maritime order within the South China Sea and worldwide.”
China is accused of deploying its Naval army with the purpose of covering the area under the South China Sea. Countries like Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines have complained about the Chinese Maritime Militia ‘harassing’ fishermen from their respective countries and have also constantly opposed China’s claims over the South China Sea.