Contributor: Moses Ekpolomo
As China’s economic and strategic influence grows, neighbours are benefiting in both aid and trade. But the fear of a new hegemony in the region is ever more evident in international and territorial waters of South China Sea.
China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have competing claims for part or all of the archipelagos in the South China Sea, the Spratly and Paracel Islands. The region contains large untapped oil and gas reserves. It also includes some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, with mostly crude oil from the Middle East for East Asian countries passing through. The strait of Melacca is an important passage that also links the archipelagos islands to the South China Sea and half of the world’s oil and LNG passes through it. With sovereignty over these islands is disputed between these countries, it is not clear which country the region extensive natural gas and oil belong to, but the interested countries perceive that it may and thus promote their claims to sovereignty.
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