The Spratly Islands, located in the South China Sea, lie in a strategic zone adjacent to important commercial sea lanes and in an area possibly rich in hydrocarbon resources. Six States claim territorial sovereignty over the maritime features and therefore sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the sorrounding waters. China, the main actor in the region, claims all the features in the South China Sea. Under this context, we try to answer if the purpoted China’s hegemony is in fact legal in regard to the sovereignty over the Spratly Islands. In doing so, we introduce the historical background, whose economic, historic, legal and political elements explain the current status of the dispute.
Keywords:
Sovereignty, Law of the Sea, Natural resources, Historic rights, Geopolitics
Author Biography
Diego Ignacio Monares Guajardo, Universidad de Chile
Licenciado en Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales de la Universidad de Chile.
Monares Guajardo, D. I. (2020). The chinese hegemony over the Spratly Islands: fact or fiction. Estudios Internacionales, 52(195), 87–110. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-3769.2020.57253
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