ABSTRACT
The South China Sea potentially is rich in hydrocarbon resources, but until such time that there is certainty of which country has exclusive maritime jurisdiction over what part of the seabed little or no exploitation will occur. Maritime boundary delimitation or some form of joint resource development is hampered by a legacy of sovereignty disputes over miniscule pieces of territory that are scattered throughout this water body. Unfortunately, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea does not address how to resolve sovereignty disputes. The small disputed islands have no intrinsic value other than possibly providing the territorial basis from which to make the maritime claims. Given the nationalism associated with the territorial claims, any viable long-term solution will have to address how to discount these features and the States will have to have the political will to push their sovereignty claims aside in order to move forward towards some sort of joint development arrangements.
