What Now for China’s ‘Historic Rights’ in the South China Sea?

The historicity of China’s rights in the South China Sea is integral to the Communist Party’s story about its role in restoring and defending China’s sovereignty, the key expression of which is territorial integrity. While Beijing’s claim in this area has never been directly labeled a “core interest” on par with Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang, it has been situated in the same historical narrative, based on re-establishing rights held “since ancient times” – not through rules of sovereign acquisition imported into Asia by Western colonial powers in the 19th century, or for that matter a maritime law treaty concluded barely three decades past. Read more