Illustration: Liu Rui
China is an inland nation with many islands. It has more than 7,000 islands over 500 square meters in size and almost 10,000 islands less than 500 square meters each. Islands are not only nature's gifts, serving as havens for wild animals and plants, but also important vessels of national sovereignty, oceanic rights and sites of major national interest.
However, since the 1970s, China has faced increasingly frequent bouts of conflict regarding maritime spaces. Eight neighboring countries have made claims to China's islands, resulting in the fracturing of its sea lanes, the invasion of its islands and the exploitation of its oceanic resources. Among several examples, Japan's claim to the Diaoyu Islands has become a focal point of conflict between the two nations, while South Korea's confiscation of Suyan Rock - which it renamed Parangdo - has only served as a prelude to its more recent saber-rattling over the Rixiang Reef in the Yellow Sea.
The South China Sea has never been a more chaotic place than it is now. The establishment of the Southeast Asian Spratly Group, a loosely-organized consortium of nations, many of which border the South China Sea, will only serve to exacerbate the issue.
The group is attempting to internationalize the South China Sea issue. The fact that China is not welcome at the table is no secret.
As China watches its islands enter this frightening political gray area, a place where the damage done cannot easily be undone, it has to contemplate all the options for protecting the country's territorial integrity. When solemn protest fails, what other recourse does it have? In the past, China encouraged its adversaries to put away their differences and work on shared interests, but few took this offer. Instead, they continued insisting on exploring and occupying. At a time when demarcating sea areas is more based on practical management than historical proofs, should China keep up with time and do some effective things in real action?.
Chinese coastal areas have also engaged in an unprecedented island-hopping spree, developing and industrializing them to an alarming degree. As many of the islands are only sparsely populated, few people possess strong awareness of the problems at hand and what's at stake. But there's no doubt that decades of blasting, dredging, quarrying, logging, overfishing and land reclamation, among other unsustainable processes, have not left a pleasant legacy. Off the coast of Zhejiang Province alone, nearly 2,000 islands have completely vanished because of such development. In addition to being an ecological disaster, the overexploitation of islands destroys crucial bases for China's national defense and protection. Wiping them off the map will give rise to stark vulnerabilities in maritime strategy and deployment. Island protection must thus be made a high-level national priority.
Thankfully, steps are being taken to address these issues. On March 1, 2010, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Island Protection was formally implemented. It provides a legal basis for the stewardship of China's vast coastal areas and territorial seas, as well as providing an international framework to resolve island disputes. Unfortunately, with so many actors in this sea drama working outside legal channels, there's only so much the law can do.
What's needed more is greater public awareness of the huge challenges we face, from both domestic and foreign powers, in protecting this special and unrenewable resource. Though China is hardly the first nation that comes to mind when one talk about islands, we are linked to the precious bounty of the sea. It will take effort, but is not hard to envision a future when China's islands are economically developed, socially prosperous, environmentally healthy and ecologically flourishing.
This is an excerpt from Further into the Sea, a book based on CCTV's latest documentary published this month. The author is the director of the State Research Center for Island Exploitation and Management. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn