#SouthChinaSea, International Law, & Historical Imperative

"Chinese activities in the South China Sea date back to over 2,000 years ago. China was the first country to discover, name, explore and exploit the resources of the South China Sea Islands and the first to continuously exercise sovereign powers over them."

 

Moreover, for China, the state of nature is not ideal or protected, but mutable and corruptible through effective control. Beijing even claims an ability to manufacture new rights from land reclaimed from the sea.

 

The United States, echoing the Dutch humanist, answers that that the high seas are open to all states and not subject to claims of sovereignty by any nation. Nature is the ideal; artificial structures do not create sovereign privileges. Even if historic title over the South China Sea was available, Washington asserts that this claim must be supported by: (1) an open, notorious, and effective exercise of authority; (2) continuous exercise of that authority; and (3) acquiescence by foreign states in the exercise of that authority. This is a high bar to clear for a Chinese claim spanning two millennia, particularly when considering that during the self-described "Century of Humiliation" Beijing did not exercise effective authority over its mainland, not to mention purported maritime domains.

http://thediplomat.com/2016/05/lords-of-navigation-grotius-freitas-and-the-south-china-sea/