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| Competing Claims of Vietnam and China in the Vangard Bank and Blue Dragon Areas of the South China Sea - Part II |
Analysis of Chinese Claims: The extent of the Chinese claims in the South China Sea was outlined in Part I. As was explained, China not only asserts its rights to sovereignty over all of the Spratlys and Paracels, but apparently asserts claims to virtually all of the waters in the South China Sea. The Chinese claims would slice off all but approximately 60 nautical miles of Vietnam's continental shelf, including the Vanguard Bank and Blue Dragon areas. The fact that China claims the Blue Dragon block is confirmed by the fact that China contested Vietnam's licensing that field in the spring of 1994.
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Does international law provide any support for China's extensive claims to virtually the entire South China Sea? Chinese spokesmen appear to offer two bases for China's claims; first, its alleged sovereignty over the Spratlys and Paracels and its concomitant right to their territorial waters and continental shelf, and second, a cryptic suggestion that almost the entire South China Sea constitutes "historic waters' that belong (in some undefined sense) to China.
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