What is the nine-dash line?

No way through: Policemen setting up a road block on a street leading to the Philippine Embassy in Beijing as Manila warns its citizens to avoid political debates over the disputes in the South China Sea. — EPA

BEIJING: At the heart of the South China Sea dispute is the “nine-dash line”, Beijing’s claim that encircles as much as 90% of the ­contested waters.

The line runs as far as 2,000km from the Chinese mainland to within a few hundred kilometres of the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam. Beijing maintains it owns any land or features ­contained within the line, which confers vaguely defined “historical maritime rights”.

What is the origin of the line?

It appeared on a Chinese map as an 11-dash line in 1947 as the then Republic of China’s navy took control of some islands in the South China Sea that had been ­occupied by Japan during the Second World war.

After the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949 and Kuomintang forces fled to Taiwan, the communist government declared itself the sole ­legitimate representative of China and inherited all the nation’s maritime claims in the region. But two “dashes” were removed in the early 1950s to bypass the Gulf of Tonkin as a gesture to communist comrades in North Vietnam.

Beijing intensified its hold in the northern part of the waters in the mid-1970s when it expelled the South Vietnamese navy from the Paracel Islands after a clash that saw dozens killed.

Seven out of about 200 reefs in the Spratly Islands came under Chinese control in the 1980s and 1990s and Scarborough Shoal in 2012.

Taiwan still maintains its maritime claims in the region and has kept a military garrison on Pratas Islands and the largest natural feature in the Spratlys, ­Taiping.

Why is the line so important?

It serves as the basis of China’s claim to “historical rights” in the region, as neither Beijing nor Taipei ever held effective control over the entire region encompassing more than two million sq km.

Other claimants such as the Phili­ppines, Malaysia and Brunei root their claim in geographical proximity, while Vietnam, which occupies the largest number of islands and reefs in the Spratlys, at 29, stresses it actively administers the area.

According to the treaty, a nation has sovereignty over waters ­extending 12 nautical miles from its land and exclusive control over economic activities 200 nautical miles out.

Beijing maintains it has historical evidence proving its control of territory further out to sea. The ruling by the Hague means China’s claims would be seriously undermined and neighbouring states would have a legal endorsement for their position.

Beijing argues the nine-dash line emerged in the new world ­order after the Second World War and came well before the 1982 Unclos. Beijing says China accepted the Japanese surrender and reclaimed the region with legal backing and the authorisation of the Allies.

Other claimants in the region and the US expressed no objections at the time, it argues.

What is Beijing’s strategy with the nine-dash line?

Beijing is a signatory to Unclos, but it has intentionally never ­defined the legal meaning of the nine-dash line or what its “rights” are within the boundary.

This ambiguity has led to the idea among many ordinary Chinese people that it marks the nation’s maritime boundary, but again, Beijing has never made this explicit.

Others say it encircles the area where China demands economic rights.

Another interpretation is the line marks the islands and reefs China wants to control rather than the waters inside its boundaries. ­Beijing has long favoured a strategy of ambiguity.

It does not openly go against international law, but prefers to leave space for its more ambitious claims. — South China Morning Post / Asia News Network