South China Sea

Since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1965, other countries have known the Republic of Maldives mostly as a honeymoon destination for Bollywood actors. However, the archipelago is now seeing renewed attention for a more strategic purpose. The sea surrounding the islands is the Laccadive Sea, which connects Maldives, India, and Sri Lanka. The Laccadive Sea has stable waters throughout the whole year, which makes it ideal for a naval base, something the United States might try to establish in the coming years, given its activity in base-building in other parts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

In the past five years China has become increasingly aggressive about asserting their authority over greater and greater swathes of the South China Sea through the creation and militarization of artificial islands. One aspect of this expansion that has drawn considerable ire from the US is the movement and subsequent testing of anti-ship cruise missiles to advance positions in the South China Sea in July of 2019. This movement of missiles is the pinnacle of a vast effort by the Chinese to project power into the South China Sea and deter the powerful US presence in the region.

Tensions in the South China Sea have escalated between certain countries and have also de-escalated with others. Vietnam—who shares a border with China—is particularly concerned about China’s aggressiveness in the region. Beijing has recently engaged in oil drilling in the Sea near Vietnam’s territorial waters. China placed a deep-water oil rig in the Sea close to the Paracel Islands but later removed it when Vietnam said that the rig was violating its territorial rights (Zhou, Laura. 2019). In further confrontations with Vietnam, Chinese coast guard ships have repeatedly entered Vietnam’s Exclusive Economic Zone. A Chinese survey ship came within 56 nautical miles of Vietnam prompting Hanoi to dispatch naval vessels to counter the aggression. These events show that Vietnam is still highly engaged in defending its own territorial sovereignty in the Sea.

Over the past few months, China and the Philippines have been in a tense maritime quarrel over a controversial piece of land known as the Scarborough Shoal. The shoal is located just 124 nautical miles off the coast of the Philippines’ largest island, Luzon. Despite the shoal lying within the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone, China asserts claims that the shoal has been mapped as Chinese territory for centuries. The results of this stand-off could have significant implications for the United States.