At the far flung corner of Asia, in the waters of South China Sea, military maneuvers wage on among the nations who want to lay claim on the strategic location. On the face of it, the very notion of creation of territorial military zone seems a bit strange. Why does a nation want to expand its territory over water? The answer lies beneath the ocean.
Apart from being a critical trade route for the whole of South East Asia, the ocean also holds rich reserves of hydrocarbons, particularly natural gas. According to US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the South China Sea contains approximately 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in proved and probable reserves. Conventional hydrocarbons mostly reside in undisputed territory. In November 2012, the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) estimated the area holds around 125 billion barrels of oil and 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in undiscovered resources. Stretching from the Straits of Malacca in Singapore in the southwest to the Straits of Taiwan in the northeast, the area includes several hundred small islands, rocks, and reefs, with the majority located in the Paracel and Spratly Island chains. Many of these islands are partially submerged land masses unsuitable for habitation and are little more than shipping hazards.
Meanwhile, consumption of energy in the non-OECD Asian region (excluding China, India, Japan and South Korea) is expected to rise. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects total liquid fuels consumption in Asian countries outside the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to rise at an annual growth rate of 2.6 percent, growing from around 20 percent of world consumption in 2008 to over 30 percent of world consumption by 2035. Similarly, non-OECD Asia natural gas consumption grows by 3.9 percent annually, from 10 percent of world gas consumption in 2008 to 19 percent by 2035. EIA expects China to account for 43 percent of that growth. Countries surrounding this region are looking to tap it energy potential with China leading in exploration of natural gas reserves. EIA estimates the South China Sea to be more viable as a source of natural gas than as a source of oil, so producers would have to construct expensive subsea pipelines to carry the gas to processing facilities.
It is thus understandable when one hears of establishment of air defense zones in that region. Control over energy resources is at the root of all the military buildup. None of the countries would want to let go off such vast energy reserves which could proper the prospective nation towards becoming a compelling superpower, China being at the forefront. The nation has been building up its military strength for some time now, and pushing ever farther from its coastline and into international waters. The real concern now is for miscalculation — particularly with Japan — that ends up in gunfire. Just six months ago, the Pentagon released its annual report on China's military. Its defense budget was growing. The country was building more stealthy aircraft and submarines. It even bought an aircraft carrier from the Ukraine. Washington is also asking China not to set up an air defense zone in the South China Sea, where Beijing is locked in territorial rows with Southeast Asian nations, without first consulting countries concerned. Beijing has already gone so far to claim 80 percent of the area, effectively taking control of Scarborough Shoal last summer, which is well within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Philippines and is pressing its claims now on Second Thomas Shoal. China has also deployed its new aircraft carrier to the region in what could be seen as a show of force.
Not to be held down, South Korea has also joined the race by expanding its air patrol zone for the first time in 62 years to include airspace over the East China Sea that is also claimed by Beijing and Tokyo. Defying both China and Japan, this expansion by South Korea presents the latest sign of discord among the Northeast Asian members. With South Korea’s newly expanded zone, the air defense zones of all three countries now overlap over a submerged reef called Ieodo in South Korea and Suyan Rock in China. This move has come in immediate succession after stoking of regional tension by China. The expanded Chinese air control zone also covers a set of East China Sea islands, called Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese, which are at the heart of a territorial feud between Japan and China. Until China had expanded its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), the sky over the submerged reef of Ieodo was covered only by Japan’s air control zone. South Korea did not attempt to expand its air patrol zone over the reef; partly for fear that such a move might prompt Japan to claim the airspace over a disputed set of islets off the eastern coast of South Korea.
This is just the beginning; offensive actions by Japan are yet to be taken. The region has the potential of developing into a potential war zone, as the current show of force suggests. Political pundits’ debate on China’s expansion as an answer to Japan’s hegemony in that region for decades and their constant refusal in acceptance of the war crimes committed against China. However, the fissures are not a part of the history but as we saw, a necessary step towards an energy secured future, which every nation looks forward to. Countries like Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia are exploiting the resource potential of the ocean, although in minimalistic amounts. Non among them, especially China, would like remain a dependent nation for meeting its energy requirements (the nation is the second largest consumer of crude in the world after the United States). As military waves splash around the regions surrounding the sea, what remains to be seen is whose waves hit the hardest.
