ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates the maritime security concerns and militarisation of the South China Sea (SCS) under international law, first, by the claimant States of the SCS and secondly, by the military activities of external powers led by the United States. The actions of all the States have resulted in geopolitical tensions and conflicts and resulted in a breach of international peace and maritime security of the region and contravene the United Nations Charter, the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC), and the 1944 Chicago Convention on Civil Aviation. This chapter examines (a) the responsibility and liability of all the States for their impugned unlawful actions; (b) the legality of the construction of artificial islands and installations seemingly purposed for military objectives under international law; and (c) the legality of the likely establishment of a maritime or an air defence identification zone, to control navigational and overflight rights in the SCS. This chapter concludes through an objective legal analysis that the SCS States and external powers have breached international peace and failed to avert a threat of peace in the region for which they remain liable to international law. In particular, skilled SCS States negotiators are reminded that they have an immediate obligation under international law to restore peace and demilitarise the SCS at once and adopt a mechanism that enables the multilateral use of the natural resources of the region for peaceful national economic development.
