International Diplomatic Conference 2016

STUDY GUIDE

AGENDA :- SOUTH CHINA DISPUTE

Contents
1. Welcome Letter
2. Introduction of the committee
3. Agenda 1
Introduction
History
Territorial Claim
QARMA

Welcome Letter
Hi Delegates,
As the Executive Board of United Nations Security
Council we would like to warmly welcome you to
International Diplomats Conference MUN 2016.
We hope that it will be a memorable experience for
all of you, leading not only to effective policy
solutions regarding the problems at hand, but also to
new friendships and experiences, which might prove
relevant in your future careers.
Keep your research strong, your words right and
dont forget to enjoy yourself. We are looking
forward to meeting you in person at the conference
and we hope that we will all have a lot of fun
working together.
For any further doubt please feel free to contact us.
Chair,
SAKSHI UNIYAL

Introduction of the Council

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of
the six main organs of the United Nations System.
Founded in 1946, the Councils primary responsibilities
under the United Nations Charter are the maintenance of
the international peace and security; to develop friendly
relations among nations; to cooperate in solving
international problems and in promoting respect for
human rights; and to be a centre for harmonizing the
actions of nations. The UNSC consist of 15 Members, and
according the Art. 27 par. 1 each Member shall have one
vote. This includes five veto-wielding permanent
membersThe Republic of China, France, Russia, the
United Kingdom, and the United States based on the
great powers that were the victors of World War 2. The
Members States are divided into permanent and nonpermanent, which are further subdivided into 5 regional
groups. The ten non-permanent members are elected by
the General Assembly for two-year terms starting on
January 1st, replacing 5 members each year. The five
permanent members (often referred to as P5) equipped
with veto power cannot use veto power on procedural
matters. Official documents issued by the Security
Council comprise resolutions, which are binding for
Member States, and reports, which include information on
missions organized by the Council, summaries of annual

work of the Council, as well as recommendations for the

future. The Security Council is defined by Chapter VII of
the United Nations Charter has ways of enforcing
collective security and must act accordingly. Under the
Charter, all Member States are obligated to comply with
Council decisions. Emphasizing that The Security
Council must at all times keep its main objective, which is
to promote and defend world peace and security by
avoiding conflicts and constantly promote cooperation
between Member States. The Council also advises the
General Assembly and votes on the appointment of the
Secretary-General of the organization, and together with
this body elects the Judges of the International Court of
Justice. In addition, it recommends the admission of new
Members and exercises the Trusteeship Functions of the
United Nations in strategic areas. Despite its power, the
Council has often presented an inability to respond
quickly to threats towards international peace and
security, mainly due to the disagreements of the Members
upon a resolution.

Introduction of the Agenda

The South China Sea is a body of water stretching from
the Malacca Straits to Taiwan, neighboring the coasts of
eight sovereign states: the Peoples Republic of China, the
Republic of China (Taiwan), the Philippines, Malaysia,
Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam. The Sea is
extremely important, both globally and regionally: it is
one of the worlds busiest sea-lanes, it has rich fishing
grounds, and it is widely believed to contain vast
quantities of oil and gas. The Sea is crowded by a number
of small islands, most of them uninhabited; the two major
island groups being the Spratly and Paracel Islands. The
Sea also hosts large reefs, like the Scarborough Shoal, and
unique maritime wildlife. Seven Asian nations have been
in dispute over the South Chinese Sea for a long time
now, because the zones claimed by almost all countries
overlap those of others. Most of the Islands and reefs in
the South Chinese Sea have been occupied by Naval or
Coast Guard forces, and an obvious deadlock situation
has been known for a couple of decades now. The
growing importance of Asia in the world has blown new
life into the dispute. Terms like The Rise of Asia and
Asias Century show the prominence given to the
continent on the world theatre, and this idea has given the
Asian states more confidence when acting in international

matters. Vietnam after the Chinas oil rig installation

confronted the Chinas oil platform with 29 ships in
attempt to prevent the oil rig from establishing a fixed
point to make any oil drill operations. The republic of
China deployed about 120 vessels including 6 warships,
40 coast guard ships, more than 30 transport ships,
tugboats, and used water cannons, fire to drive the
Vietnamese ships away and one of the Vietnamese fishing
boat was rammed by the Chinese vessel as a response to
the Vietnams confrontation. These vessels were formed
in groups to dislodge the Vietnamese vessels from nearing
the oil rigs location. Also, Chinese fishing boats have
been reinforced with a large pear-shaped device in their
prows which adds force when they ram smaller boats. The
U.S. Senate protests Chinas provocative act in Vietnams
exclusive economic zone.
In Vietnam, the protests began relatively peacefully in
Binh Duong province near Ho Chi Minh City, but smaller
groups of men later ran into foreign-owned factories,
began looting and burning them as the factories were
language-wise related. The back and forth conflict in the
sea caused arise of numbers of protests in Vietnam and in
the Vietnamese communities internationally around the
world. These were mostly factories owned by companies
from Taiwan but also, South Korea. The more peaceful
protests were organized globally by Vietnamese
communities in locations such as Slovakia, Canada,
France, Germany, Poland etc.

South China Seas claims are even further complicated by the

believed presence of natural resources, and strategic sea routes

Historical Background
The South China Sea has been an important sea route for
centuries as it conveniently connected all the littoral states
of the Southeast Asia and facilitated trade. If we had the
possibility to look at the navigation maps dating back up
to four hundred years, we would see several of the
archipelagos having their place clearly demarcated. The
disputes over who has the sovereignty over the scattered,
generally inhabitable groups of islands were the direct
result of European colonialism. The first significant
dispute can be seen the conflict of interests of France and
Japan concerning the Spratly Islands prior to the WWII.
The conflicts escalated, however, once the WWII was
over. By the means of the San Francisco Treaty, The
Cairo Declaration, The Potsdam Declaration and the
Joint Communiqu (between the Peoples Republic of
China and Japan), Japan and France agreed to cease the
occupation of the region but the question of who, if
anyone, actually has the right to claim the islands was left
unanswered. The situation was further complicated by
the progress in the applicable international law and by the
discovery of the national resources in the region. China
claimed sovereignty over the Spratlys first, and after the
oil was found in 1970s, Vietnam has also put forward its
claims and built structures for extraction of the resources
on part of the islands. In following years, Philippines,

Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia also declared ownership

over part of the Spratly Islands, and the tensions among
all the claimants only increased through the time.
The Spratly Islands is currently occupied by
Philippines, China, Brunei, Taiwan, Vietnam and
Malaysia. The Spratly are between 100 and 200
islands, isles and shoals scattered over 164,000
square miles. The Islands are considered as a
strategic, economic and political asset for the littoral
states in the SCS.

The Paracel Islands are mostly controlled by the

Peoples Republic of China, but Taiwan and Vietnam
have also made claims over them. The Islands are
very small and some of them are naturally under
water during the high tide, which makes them
completely inhabitable. Their importance for the
three countries might stem from their strategic
location.

Territorial Claim
China
Chinas claims on the South China Sea are sometimes
hard to comprehend, especially when looking at the huge
scope of the Chinese claim; originating in ancient times
when imperial China established consistent presence in
the region. The first official map including the Sea in
Chinese territory was issued in 1914 by the then
Kuomintang government. The Peoples Republic of China
has inherited the claim (in addition by the Republic of
China, better known as Taiwan). Such claim has been
consistently used by the Chinese government, in internal
documents, bilateral relations, and even in communication
with the United Nations. It is however still hard to see a
legal base for the claim. The latter seems to be based on a
territorial water claim - normally extending 12 miles from
the coasts baseline -, or on a continental shelf claim.
Some authors have argued that the Chinese claim rests on
the claiming of the continental shelf of the Islands in the
South China Sea. A number of countries, among which
many APEC countries feature as well, have asked for
clarification of the U shaped line from China, but the
Peoples Republic has failed to give a reasoned answer instead maintaining that their claim is correctly based,
both in history and in law. The theory behind Chinas
claims might be unclear, but the situation on the ground

certainly is not: China has fought some minor skirmishes

with Vietnam over the Paracel Islands, and currently still
administers them, despite Vietnamese protests.
Vietnam
Just like the Chinese one, the Vietnamese claim can be
traced back to ancient imperial times, when the
Vietnamese emperors sent expeditions to the Paracel
islands, and one emperor is even rumored to have
referred to them as the flower in his crown.
The French incorporated the Spratly Islands in their
colonial empire, and the Vietnamese see themselves as
the rightful inheritors of the French colonial claim.
During the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese seemed to have
more or less indulged on the Chinese claim, but after the
reunification of Vietnam in 1975, the Vietnamese claimed
both the Paracel and the Spratly islands as being located
in their territorial waters. The Vietnamese currently
occupy a large part of the Spratly islands, and have
reinforced their military presence in the area to stress their
claim.

 Philippines

The Philippines have officially designated the South

China Sea, or at least its eastern part, as the West
Philippine Sea. A bold move by the Philippines, who
seem to be determined to show China that their
maritime claims still stand.
The Philippines claim is based on the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS), which includes an Exclusive Economic
Zone (EEZ) which extends for 200 nautical miles
and, naturally, the territorial waters which extend for
12 nautical miles from the coasts baseline.
The waters are extremely valuable to the Philippines,
who see in them a presence of oil and gas reserves,
rich fishing grounds, and an important trade hub.
The Philippines dont recognize the Chinese claim
on the Spratly Islands, and consequently the Chinese
maritime claims based on it.

Questions a Resolution must

answer:
What are the legal grounds for policies of
land grabbing in the South China Sea?
How is the resource exploitation of the
South China Sea to be addressed, in the
lights of land grabbing policies?
Would the escalation into more intense or
large conflict lead to a potential war? Are
precautionary measures needed?
Analyze possible solutions to deescalate the
territorial dispute between the Republic of
China and Vietnam.