Why America Doesn't Have to Worry About Losing the South China Sea

[rangerrebew]

August 24, 2020

Why America Doesn't Have to Worry About Losing the South China Sea

The South China Sea isn't anyone's sea. It belongs to the whole world. But the country that would suffer most from its closure in time of war would be China. Having developed A2/AD capabilities of its own, it would be hard-pressed were any country other than the United States to develop them, too.
by Salvatore Babones

Who owns the high seas? The conventional answer is: no one and everyone.

Coastal states exercise sovereignty over territorial waters that normally extend 12 nautical miles from their shorelines. They also have the right to exploit undersea resources like oil and gas in exclusive economic zones that extend out 200 nautical miles. Economics rights can even be extended further to incorporate the entire continental shelf before the seabed falls off into a deep ocean basin.

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-america-doesnt-have-worry-about-losing-south-china-sea-167574

[PeteS in CA]

It probably would not help China's economy for its major ports in the South China Sea, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, to be more or less closed to international traffic. And conflict probably would not be isolated, so its East China Sea ports would likely be closed as well, Shanghai, Hanzhou, and Nantong. How rationally China's leaders may be thinking and how much economic suffering they'd tolerate are the open questions.