This is the South China Sea where there is
tremendous geopolitical tension at this time and the
reason for this is that China is trying to take control of this entire area. The
South China Sea is an area of 3.5 million square
kilometers which is
spread from Singapore to the Taiwan Strait and
that is why countries like Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei,
Taiwan, South Korea and Japan are
very upset with this claim of China.
80% of the trade of the entire Pacific Ocean
passes through this South China Sea and China is very
aggressively building its military bases in this entire area,
but on the other
hand, America has also
spread a network of its military bases around China in response to this,
after which the geopolitical tension in this entire area has become
very intense
and many analysts are claiming
that the South China Sea is the area from
where World War 3 can start. The
truth is that in today's video we will
understand why the South China Sea is
so important for the world. Similarly, we will
also try to understand from China's perspective that
why Why does he want to control this entire area
and in the end
we will see what the outcome of all this
can be. So let's go to the world's most
contested sea which is called the
South China Sea
[Music]
30% of the world's sea trade takes place through the South China
Sea. Every year 11 billion oil
barrels and 190 trillion cubic feet of
natural gas pass through this sea to reach South
East Asian countries. The South China
Sea connects the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean
and that is why it is a very
important trade route. Whoever
controls it will have control over 30% of the world's trade. As of
today, five
countries claim different areas of the South China Sea
and their claim is
based on the United Nations Law of the Seas,
according to which the area from the coastline of every country
to 200 miles in the sea is
Exclusive Economic Zone
or EEG in short form, meaning that country will have rights over the
natural resources of that area and the trade passing through it.
So
for example If
oil is discovered within 200 miles of Vietnam's coast,
Vietnam will have rights over it. Similarly,
any part of the sea that is not EEG will be an international
water domain, which means that
every country will have rights over it as per the United Nations Maritime Law.
Now all the
countries present here claim their respective areas as per this EEG law,
except China.
According to China, it has a historical claim over the entire South China Sea.
When Japan lost in World War II, China
took advantage of the opportunity and drew this nine-dash line
and declared about 90% of South China Sea as its
area. Earlier this
area was under the control of Japan. In 1973,
when the UN made a law for a 200-mile exclusive
economic zone, even then China
refused to accept this law and
insisted that
it has rights over the entire South China Sea with this dotted line. Similarly,
in the very center of the South China Sea are the
Spratly Islands. These are many deserted
islands where no one lives, but
China, Vietnam, Philippines and Malaysia
All these countries claim them and
want to claim these islands because
whoever claims these islands, his
exclusive economic zone will automatically increase
and that is why China is
building military bases on these islands and this is where
America enters. Now America has
neither any claim nor any connection with the South China Sea but
because it is a
world superpower and China is a
big threat for it, it
wants to stop its growing military presence and
that is why it is
building a belt of its military bases around China so that
China can be stopped from advancing. This
belt starts from the Japanese city of Okinawa
where America has 32 military
facilities. Then
America has bases on Miyako and Unaguni islands of Japan as well. So there are a
total of about 3 thousand
American soldiers in Japan. Next point is
Taiwan where America has about 200
soldiers. About 66 years ago from today,
in 1958, there were 20,000 American soldiers in Taiwan. And
America had even installed nuclear weapons here
but then in 1970
America removed its nuclear weapons from here
and called back its troops
because the distance between China and Taiwan is
only 100 miles and China was
very upset with the American presence so close and the
matter was going to direct conference.
After Taiwan, the next point is Philippines which has an
American air base on Palawan Island where there are
2000 American soldiers. Similarly, there is
Clark Air Base on Luzon Island of Philippines
where there are about a thousand American
soldiers. Similarly, here in Sulu,
about 500 American soldiers and American anti-
aircraft system have been installed to intercept Chinese ships and then
finally here in Vietnam, there are about
500 American soldiers at Dang Air Base. There is also
an agreement between the governments of America and Vietnam
that the American Air Force can
use Vietnam's airports anytime in case of war
and this story is not over yet, there is
another example of this strategy to joke with China. Australia is a very big
player. There is
a military agreement between America, UK and Australia
which is called AUKUS.
According to this agreement, these three
countries are jointly creating a submarine force
so that it can monitor the entire Pacific Ocean.
America and UK have already
built a base at the port of Perth where these
submarines are being built. So if we
look from China's perspective, America
's strategy is very aggressive.
All of China's sea trade takes place through this 14000 km long
eastern coastline and this
trade route is surrounded by American bases.
China's trade passes through three straits and
reaches South Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe. One is the Strait of Malacca
which is
between Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, the
second is the Sanda Strait which is
between Java and Sumatra Island of Indonesia and the
third is the Lubbock Strait which is
between two islands of Indonesia. The countries between which these three
states are located are all
friends of America and
can choose these routes at its behest, as a result of which the
Chinese economy will collapse in a few weeks.
That is why for the last few years China has been
trying to take control of this sea very aggressively. Today China has the
second largest navy in the world.
In 2022, while America's military spending was
$77 billion, China's
spending was 00 billion dollars, whereas just a few
years ago in 1990, China's military
spending was only 9 billion dollars. China
wants to protect all its trade routes from any blockade through its navy. Its
economy is already growing very fast
and if we look at this graph, it is
very clear how China is going to
cross America very soon and become the world's
largest economy.
America has been ruling the whole world for the last 80 years,
but as has always happened in human history
that umpires reach their peak,
then they decline and some
other umpire takes their place.
Similarly, now it seems that
someone else is going to take America's place and it looks like it's going to be
China. America
will try its best to defeat China.
Stop it from becoming the world's super power and for this, whether
it has to choke China's trade routes
or pressurize it through military means, whatever is
in America's power,
it will do it. On the other hand, China Seems
Unstoppable. After its alliance with Russia, China has
become geopolitically very powerful and
this race to become a world super power has become even more
interesting now, but this race is going to push
our world towards a very big war very soon. For the
last one and a half years,
we have been mentioning this increasing global geopolitical tension in our videos
and with every passing time, the world is getting closer to a big
war. Let's hope that
sanity prevails and everyone should be sensible.
These are all the sources from where we have
consulted for this video. If you
want to see such geopolitical videos, then
definitely tell us in the comments below.
We get to know your feedback only through your comments.
See you in the next video
with another interesting topic. Take care of yourself.
Allah Hafiz.
