Don Zeigler's NCGE 2013 presentation on Political geography for the APHG strand

1. Evolution of Contemporary
Geopolitical Patterns:
South China Sea
Don Zeigler
Old Dominion University – Virginia Beach
National Conference on
Geographic Education
August 3, 2013

3. . . .they learn to think critically about what is
revealed and what is hidden in different maps . . .

13. West York Island / Likas Island

14. Thitu Island / Pag Asa

15. World Political
Map

16. South China Sea
Littoral States
Definition:
• States that have a shoreline
on the South China Sea
• People’s Republic of China
• Republic of China (Taiwan)
• Vietnam
• Philippines
• Singapore
• Malaysia
• Thailand
• Cambodia
• Brunei
• Indonesia
How many independent
states are there today?
• 195
How many independent
states border the SCS?
• 10

17. 25%

18. JAPAN
#10
INDIA
#2

19. ASEAN =
supranational
political unit

21. Boundaries

22. • How do you claim offshore waters and/or
resources?
• You consult the Law of the Sea Convention
• From the shoreline of each coastal state:
• 12-mile Territorial Sea
• 12-24-mile Contiguous Zone
• 200-mile EEZ: Exclusive Economic Zone
• 350-mile limit on Continental Shelf Resources

23. “I will tell him that the Mischief Reef is
within our 200-mile EEZ.”
- Philippine President Joseph Estrada, Nov. 13, 1998,
on his way to meet with the President of China.

24. Law of the Sea Convention
Article 10: Bays
---------
The foregoing provisions do not
apply to so-called "historic" bays,
or in any case where the system
of straight baselines provided for
in article 7 is applied.

25. Law of the Sea Convention
Article 121: Regime of Islands
1. An island is a naturally formed area
of land, surrounded by water, which
is above water at high tide.
3. Rocks which cannot sustain human
habitation or economic life of their
own shall have no exclusive
economic zone or continental shelf.

27. Exercises of
Power

28. Political
Organization of
Territory

29. 11 Jul 2013
“China Telecom has continued the project it started
this January to deploy 3G mobile technology across
the disputed Spratly Islands chain in the South China
Sea, by extending its network to the Nansha Red
Reef.”
“Filipino mobile operator Smart communications, part
of PLDT Group, became the first company to deploy
telecoms infrastructure in the disputed territory when
it constructed a 2G base station on Pag-Asa Island
back in 2005.”

35. More than half of the world's annual
merchant fleet tonnage passes through
the Straits of Malacca, Sunda, and
Lombok, with the majority continuing on
into the South China Sea.

36. Offshore Geography:
21st Century Hot Spots
Challenges to
Political-Territorial Arrangements
Islands
Seas
Ocean Resources

37. 1971 1981 1991 2001 20111971