oppn parties Asean Rightly Says China Must Respect The 1982 UN Oceans Treaty

News Snippets

  • For the first time ever, Mukesh Ambani buys a 29% stake in Gautam Adani's Mahan Energen, a subsidiary of Adani Power to source 500MW of electricity from the company's power plant in MP
  • Stocks continue to rise on Thursday - Sensex gains 639 points to 73635 and Nifty 203 points to 22326
  • Golf - Indian Open: 3 Indians at tied 14th as Joost Luiten takes the lead with a wonderful 7-under 65
  • IPL: RR beat DC by 12 runs as Riyan Parag (84 off just 45 balls) shines
  • SP drops two candidates owing allegiance to Azam Khan from Rampur and Moradabad
  • In Assam, a controversy erupted after a picture of UPPL leader Benjamin Basumatary, lying on a stack of Rs 500 notes circulated on social media. UPPL is an ally of the BJP
  • AAP's Jalandhar-West MP Sushil Kumar Rinku joins the BJP. He was the only AAP Lok Sabha MP
  • Supreme Court dismisses Centre's plea to review its 2023 verdict in the PMLA case
  • Close save for passengers as they remain unhurt after the wings of two planes graze at Kolkata airport. Pilots derostered and inquiry ordered by DGCA
  • Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh gets notice from the EC as well as the BJP for making ugly remarks about Mamata Banerjee's parentage
  • Sadanand Vasanth Date, who faught terrorists in the 26/11 attack and was awarded the Preisent's Police medal, has been appointed the head of the NIA
  • Centre will borrow Rs 7.5L cr in the first six months of FY25, nearly 50% of the target for the full year
  • 25 stocks, including SBI, will see same day trade settlements from today in the world's fastest settlement mode in both BSE and NSE
  • Stocks recover smartly on Wednesday: Sensex rises 526 points to 72996 and Nifty 118 points to 22123
  • Tennis: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reached the semifinals of the Miami Open
Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena says government cannot be run from jail, hints at President's Rule in the capital ////// In a dangerous incident, the wings of two planes grazed while taxiing on the runway at Kolkata airport, all passengers were safe but DGCA ordered an inquiry and the pilots were derostered
oppn parties
Asean Rightly Says China Must Respect The 1982 UN Oceans Treaty

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-06-27 22:01:17

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

In an interesting development, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has taken a strong stand against China regarding its claim on vast tracts of the South China Sea. In a statement, leaders of Asean today said that the 1982 UN oceans treaty should form the basis of determining sovereign rights and entitlements in the South China Sea. This is the strongest repudiation of China's claims yet and it was time that someone had the courage to do so. It is good that the statement has come from nations on which China has nefarious designs.

China has laid claim over vast tracts of land and sea on flimsy historical, cultural affinity or racial similarity grounds. It claims that a large part of north-eastern India, mainly Arunachal Pradesh, parts of Ladakh and many other areas at the LAC belong to it. Similarly, it claims that it has sovereign rights over large tracts of the South China Sea due to historical 'evidence'. But living in the past will not do it any good. Ever since the United Nations came into being and members deliberated over various issues and settled matters by signing numerous treaties and agreements from time to time, these documents now form the basis of settling any dispute between nations or fixing the rights and entitlements of any nation over any territory, in the absence of a bilateral agreement between nations.

Only rogue nations can disregard UN treaties and one is sure that China does not consider itself as one. Hence, it should stop its expansionist policies and adhere to the rule established by the world body. It cannot ride roughshod on other nations in order to establish a world order of its own. If it continues to do so, it must remember that instead of the one-to-one engagement that it is indulging in now, it will have to face the combined might of many nations. One thing is certain though - China's bullying tactics will not succeed in the long run, despite its economic and military might.