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China Launches Propaganda for Recognition of Disputed Maritime Claims

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI, TAIWAN - Chinese scholars have had scores of reports published
   in internationally recognized scientific journals containing a mention
   of their country's 'nine-dash line,' the core of its claim to the hotly
   contested South China Sea, an American research institution said this
   month.

   China is using the journal pieces to promote its claimed demarcation
   line, Vietnamese scholar Nguyen Thuy Anh wrote in a [1]July 15 article
   for the [2]Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative under the Center for
   Strategic and International Studies.

   Journal articles are just China's latest effort to publicize its
   nine-dash line for a wide global audience in hopes that the constant
   reminders will legitimize its claim over the claims of other countries,
   analysts say.

   Maps, globes, postcards, T-shirts, video games and at least one
   blockbuster film influenced by China refer to the line as well. China
   has churned out those items for at least 10 years.

   "If you do slap a nine-dash line on say DreamWorks movies that get
   localized and distributed around the world, it does I think send a
   subtle message that (the) default world view should be that the
   nine-dash line is real and legitimate," initiative director Gregory
   Poling said.

   Nguyen, a research fellow at the East Sea Institute of the Diplomatic
   Academy of Vietnam, found 260 articles using the nine-dash line in 20
   "prominent" scientific journals owned by various publishers, her report
   says.

   China vies for maritime sovereignty in the South China Sea with Brunei,
   Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. At stake is a shared 3.5
   million-square-kilometer sea valued for fisheries, energy reserves and
   commercial shipping lanes.

References

   1. https://amti.csis.org/science-journals-a-new-frontline-in-the-south-china-sea-disputes/
   2. https://amti.csis.org/

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