Oil Drop Won't Stop China in South China Sea
South China Sea spats are a territorial fight and not about the oil, points out a report appeared in Bloomberg. "When it comes to territorial tensions in the South China Sea, it’s more about what goes through it than what lies beneath it," says the report.
The collapse in oil prices prompted oil majors from Royal Dutch Shell Plc to Norway’s Statoil ASA to shelve the projects of deep-sea exploration.
But in the South China Sea political and security considerations will keep territorial tensions simmering, fueling military spending by countries that border the area. The South China Sea contains some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and is a vital artery for China’s energy supplies from the Middle East.
According to Shi Yinhong, director of the Center for American Studies at Renmin University in Beijing and an adviser to China’s State Council, the South China Sea dispute is not some struggle for energy but a dispute for maritime territory and there is no compromise over claims.
China claims about four-fifths of the South China Sea, but the area overlaps claims from Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan. Chinese and Vietnamese boats clashed last May after China parked an oil rig in disputed waters. Deadly anti-Chinese riots erupted in Vietnam and the U.S. called the action “provocative.”
