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A Year of Multiple Standoffs, Few Solutions in South China Sea Dispute

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI, TAIWAN - China confirmed its lead this year in Asia's biggest
   maritime sovereignty dispute by sending nonmilitary ships to waters
   normally controlled by other countries, allowing it to flex muscle
   without conflicts or diplomatic losses.

   Pushback from Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam kept Beijing from
   adding artificial islets or control over existing features in the
   resource-rich South China Sea in 2019, analysts say.

   Citing dynastic-era maritime records, China claims 90% of the 3.5
   million-square-kilometer tropical waterway that stretches from Hong
   Kong to Borneo, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and
   Vietnam claim waters that overlap China's. They all value the sea for
   fisheries, fossil fuel reserves or both.

   "Compared to the previous years, there was relatively less
   militarization by China," said Aaron Rabena, research fellow at
   Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, a Manila research
   organization. "Still we see standoffs taking place, so there are still
   challenges."

   China was once more aggressive. Vietnam and China clashed in two deadly
   incidents in the 1970s and 1980s. In 2012, Chinese ships entered into a
   prolonged standoff with the Philippines at a shoal near Luzon Island
   and eventually took control of it. Two years later, Vietnamese and
   Chinese ships rammed each other over the location of an offshore
   Chinese oil rig.