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This is the most ridiculous claim that China has on the South China Sea

Jeremy Bender   

This is the most ridiculous claim that China has on the South China Sea
Politics2 min read

Admiral Yuan Yubai

US Navy Photo

Chinese Admiral Yuan Yubai

Since the establishment of modern China following World War II, both Beijing and Taiwan have claimed nearly the entirety of the South China Sea as their own.

The countries established such a claim with a Nine Dash Line throughout the region that, Beijing and Taiwan assert, show how the entirety of the South China Sea belongs to them.

Whether or not the Nine Dash Line has any basis in international law, it is far from the most ridiculous basis for a claim that China has over the sea.

Instead, Chinese Vice Admiral Yuan Yubai was responsible for the most ridiculous claim for why all of the South China Sea belongs to Beijing.

Speaking at a defense conference in London on September 14, 2015, Yuan said that "the South China Sea, as the name indicates, is a sea area that belongs to China."

"And the sea from the Han dynasty a long time ago where the Chinese people have been working and producing from the sea," Yuan continued.

Yuan's comments came following a comment at the conference by Japanese Vid Admiral Umio Otsuka, who said that deterrence was becoming increasingly important throughout East and South Asia. To back up his views, Otsuka pointed at China's expansionism throughout both regions.

After Yuan responded to Otsuka that the region belonged to China due to the sea bearing China's name, Yuan took a slightly more conciliatory measure by saying that "the real situation in the South China Sea at present is safety and freedom of navigation."

Currently, the various islands and atolls in the South China Sea are claimed and disputed in a various mix principally by Taiwan, Vietnam, China, the Philippines.

South China Sea Map_05

Mike Nudelman/Business Insider

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