Uotsuri Jima or Diaoyu Dao, the biggest island in the disputed
Senkaku Islands or Diaoyu Islands. China and Japan have
sparred repeatedly over territorial claims in the waters between
them. Source: AP
THE drums of war are beating and sabres are rattling as China, Japan and the United States confront each other to Australia's north.
But what is the confrontation really about? Well, there are a few dozen rocks putting us in a hard place.
Hundreds of tiny islands - often little more than rock piles poking above the waves at high tide - are the focus of increasingly fierce territorial tensions.
Nobody cares about how much real estate these 200-plus islands represent in the West Pacific. What really matters are the resource exclusion zones that come with their ownership - and the oil, natural gas and fish therein.
The 1.7 million square kilometres of the South China Sea alone are believed to contain at least seven billion barrels of oil reserves, although some estimates place this as high as 130 billion. Then there is the natural gas.
But there is a further complicating factor: Major shipping lanes for nations such as Taiwan, Japan and China all crowd through these narrow waters. They are the veins carrying the lifeblood of all involved. In them flows food, oil, gas and trade goods. In fact, the area accounts for more than half the world's total yearly shipping activity.
Any interruption to the pulse of trade could have international economic consequences. Meanwhile China has scrambled jets after the US and Japan enter its airspace.
Sea clash ... Japanese Coast Guard patrol boats surround a Chinese activist vessel after protesters landed on Uotsuri Island, one of the islands named Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, in the East China Sea late last year. (AP Photo/Yomiuri Shimbun, Masataka Morita) Source: AP
Many of the region's troubles - but by no means all - come from the fact China claims ownership of almost the whole of the South and East China Seas.
There are also a number of states with internal issues: Myanmar is struggling to shrug-off a military government and come to grips with ethnic tensions. Many of these disputes have spilt into neighbouring Thailand which is itself facing a political crisis. Even Malaysia and Indonesia are not without civil troubles.
But China's expansionist moves are winning the international headlines.
It justifies its actions through asserting its historical ties to the regions, some dating from the days of the Han dynasty in 110AD. Taiwan, which considers itself the true heir of the ancient Chinese dynasties, naturally makes the same claims.
All such history is bunk, according to most of the area's modern nation states - unless they have their own particular cultural ties to a landmark, of course. Instead, many apply United Nations standards of territorial determination - along with the philosophy "possession is nine tenths of the law".
And that is what is producing this flare-up in tensions.
China has attempted to take possession of the airspace around the Senkaku/Diaoyou islands, a cluster of steep islands also claimed by Japan.
But this is not the only flashpoint in the increasingly tense region.
These are the eight rocks putting us in a hard place.
Flag-waving ... Japanese activists hold national flags on Uotsuri island, one of the islands named Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, in the East China Sea late last year. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) Source: AP
1) RYUKYU ISLAND CHAIN
Contestants: Japan, Taiwan, China
Japan considers itself the traditional owners of the Ryukyu island chain that laces its way from the mainland, through Okinawa through to near Taiwan. Naturally, China and Taiwan disagree. In particular, all three believe the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands at the Ryukyu chain's southern tip belong to themselves. China says they discovered the islands in 1371AD. Japan only officially claimed the steep outcrops as their own in 1895. Modern interest has only been piqued by the 1999 discovery of an oil and gas field.
Chinese air and naval incursions into the area have been escalating in the past year, culminating with the weekend assertion that it will intercept any aircraft not seeking permission to fly over the islands.
Ocean aggression ... patrol, protest and surveillance vessels constantly swarm through the West Pacific’s disputed islands. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) Source: AP
2) SCARBOROUGH SHAOL
Contestants: Philippines, China
This cluster of islands off the Philippines' northwest tip appears to be the inflammatory destination of the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning and its attendant warships, just the latest escalation of tensions since the nation declared the "air identification zone" over the Sankaku/Diaoyou islands last weekend. Once again, fishing rights and a small nearby oilfield are the real points of contention.
China is now blocking the Philippines from accessing the area. The stand-off began last year when the Philippines apprehended eight Chinese fishing vessels there. Chinese naval vessels intervened, setting the fishermen free. Since then, China has built a small base at the entrance to the shoal and has been continuously turning Philippine fishermen away.
Ocean aggression ... patrol, protest and surveillance vessels constantly swarm through the West Pacific’s disputed islands. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) Source: AP
3) PARCEL ISLANDS:
China, Vietnam, Taiwan
This scattering of uninhabited islands near the centre of the South China Sea is very much at the "heart" of the problem. The islands were seized from Vietnam in 1974 by Chinese troops and warships. Since then, China has initiated an extensive building and development campaign to cement its claim on the territory. The most recent inflammation of international tensions here came when China declared it would develop holiday resorts on the islands.
China has turned the nearby island of Sansha into an administration centre for the whole South China Sea and has gone so far as to establish a permanent military garrison there. All regional nations have seen this as a deliberately provocative move.
The tiny islands in the East China Sea, called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese. (AP /Kyodo News, File)Source: AP
4) SPRATLEY ISLANDS:
Contestants: Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei, China
This is a name that pops up from year to year as a flashpoint for tensions - not only with China. "Islands" is something of a misnomer: Most are under water at high tide. All are resolutely claimed by China.
Most of the nations with a claim to sovereignty have built military or "research" outposts among the islands to strengthen their territorial claims.
China recently greatly expanded the size of a barracks sitting on pontoons on one of the shoals. In contrast, Vietnam sent a group of Buddhist monks to live on one of the islands to reinforce its own claims. Malaysia went so far as to import thousands of tonnes of soil from the mainland to help establish a hotel there.
Maritime muscle ... Chinese navy vessels take part in a drill in Zhoushan in disputed waters. China has flexed its military muscle to edge Philippines oil survey ships out of the Reed bank. (AP Photo) Source: AP
5) REED BANK:
Contestants: Philippines, China
These islands to the north of the Spratleys are at the centre of a new oil exploration program by the Philippines who occupy the remote outcrop. This exploration activity has prompted several stand-offs, such as when Chinese warships chased off a Philippines oil survey vessel before themselves retreating under an umbrella of Philippine warplanes.
One of several Indonesian navy warships lies at anchor off Nusa Dua as security in Bali builds as APEC leaders start to arrive on the Indonesian holiday island. Source: News Limited
6) NATUNA ISLANDS
Contestants: Vietnam, China
China's ambitious territorial claims even extend past Vietnam and Malaysia and into waters Indonesia considers its own. Recent incidents in the group of islands - 12 of which are populated - include provocative naval exercises and sabotage of oil search operations.
Little and large ... a Taiwan Coast Guard patrol boat alongside a fishing boat as a flotilla of fishing vessels, including six Taiwan coastguard vessels, head to disputed islands in the East China Sea. AFP Source: AFP
7) TAIWAN:
China, Taiwan
Behind all the simmering territorial spats over rocky outcrops in remote seas is the elephant in the room: China's continued claim to Taiwan.
Taiwan - which calls itself the Republic of China (ROC) - is the last vestige of the government which ruled all of China and Mongolia before the Chinese Civil War. As mainland China fell to the Communists, the ROC retreated to establish its new capital in Taipei, Taiwan.
Since then, the island has been a diplomatic hotbed. China refuses to acknowledge the state exists and regards the landmass and its people to already be its own.
The United States - and naturally Taiwan - disagree. Only the ongoing military and diplomatic support of the US has maintained the existence of the state since its formation in 1949.
A constant war of words - with associated military posturing, cyber attacks and acts of industrial espionage - is being waged between the two nations claiming to be the inheritors of the great Chinese tradition. The delicate status quo is constantly under threat of political destabilisation and brinkmanship. Any ensuing war is certain to immediately flare far beyond their borders.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Korean People's Army (KPA) generals at a recent conference. AFP Source: AFP
8) NORTH KOREA
China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, United States
This is the well-established bad kid on the block. Earlier this year the rogue nation sparked yet another international crisis after it tested a new intercontinental missile prototype and conducted a test nuclear explosion. The brinkmanship game that ensued between it, South Korea and the United States saw mobile missile launchers secretly shuffled into position by all parties. After dictator Kim Jong-un's usual round of wild threats (including a weird propaganda piece showing the destruction of the White House), things quietly slipped back to the current tense-normal.
Despite North Korea's erratic behaviour, China remains a staunch and steadfast ally. Arrayed against them is the United States' enormous military presence in South Korea - a continuous counterbalance that has been in the region since the 1950s.
Massive muscle ... the massive aircraft carrier USS George Washington is escorted into the Pusan port in Pusan, south of Seoul, South Korea. The nuclear powered — and armed — aircraft carrier is the most visible element of the United State’s military “pivot” to Asia. (AP / Jo Jung-ho, Yonhap) Source: AP
US PIVOT TO ASIA
The tensions outlined above have not escaped the attention of the United States.
Nor has China's ballooning military capacity, and the accelerated defence spending among the surrounding nations in response.
In 2011 Washington resolved to do something about it. It resolved to "pivot" its military focus away from Europe and Russia towards the Western Pacific. Obviously, it is a counter to China's growing strength.
Central to the strategic rebalance is a vastly increased US naval presence. Some 60 per cent of its entire fleet will now be steaming in Asian and Pacific waters.
A major new focus of this activity is Singapore. To a lesser extent, the US navy will also be making greater use of Australian ports and facilities. US Marines will also be based here.
It was no accident that the first of the US navy's most modern warships - the USS Freedom - was the first to be deployed to Singapore.
The US is also seeking to return to several military bases in the Philippines, as well as opening up defence relationships with Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.
So far, much of the "pivot" remains talk and diplomatic discussions. But the US aircraft carrier battle group centred on the USS George Washington has become a common sight in and around the South China Sea in the past year. It is a clear demonstration of the United States growing interest, and concern.
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