A United States government report has challenged China’s claims in the South China Sea.
In a paper released last Friday, the US State Department’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environment and Scientific Affairs (OES) said that China’s claim on nearly the entirety of the South China Sea—an area within a so-called “nine-dash line” described by China—“does not accord with the international law of the sea.”
The 24-page study stated that China has failed to make any “cognizable historic claim” to the area.
“There appears to be no Chinese law, declaration, proclamation, or other official statement describing and putting the international community on notice of a historical claim to the waters within the dashed line,” the US paper said.