Day: January 13, 2022

The day before her arrest for leading a strike against one of the most profitable gaming companies in the world, Chhim Sithar shaved her hair and had a photo taken of herself holding a banner declaring: “I am imprison[ed] after demanding Naga Corp. to respect union right[s].”

It was, her family and colleagues said, a typically fearless act of defiance for the university educated 34-year-old labor leader, who was immediately detained by police in plainclothes when she arrived at the site of the strike on Jan. 4.

As president of Labor Rights Supported by Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, Chhim Sithar has been at the forefront of a massive strike of workers who are demanding higher wages and the reinstatement of 365 union leaders and members the group says was unjustly fired from the hotel and casino.

Cambodian authorities have deemed the strike “illegal” and say it is supported by foreign donors as a plot to topple the government. Chhim Sithar was charged along with seven other colleagues with incitement to cause social unrest.

Labor leaders say the government’s response is really about preventing any meaningful worker reforms in the country.

“By arresting our union members, the government is playing with fire,” Chhim Sithar told RFA a day before her arrest.

She said that it would “bring further shame” on Cambodia’s global image to deny workers the basic rights to organize and fight for themselves.

In the five days from Dec. 31 to Jan. 4, authorities in Phnom Penh arrested 29 strikers, union activists, and union leaders, including a tricycle driver and several pregnant women who the labor group says were unjustly fired by NagaWorld.

Authorities later released 20 of them after they signed agreements not to rejoin the strike. One of the workers was placed under judicial supervision.

Chhim Sithar is now being held on incitement charges in Prey Sar Prison. If convicted, she could face up to two years in prison and a fine of up to 4 million riels (U.S. $974,000). Seven other union members also charged with incitement are also in custody.

The union leader previously told RFA that she was ready to face persecution to fight for labor rights in Cambodia that she says are not yet fully upheld.

Math whiz, labor rights defender

Chhim Sithar was born into a middle-class in Prey Veng province’s Peam Chor district but grew up in Phnom Penh when her parents moved there for work.

The second child among five siblings, she excelled in mathematics at the renowned elite Preah Sisowath High School and studied economic informatics on a scholarship at the Royal University of Law and Economics.

She is fluent in English and Chinese and is able to communicate well in Thai. She began to work at NagaWorld casino in 2006. A year later she joined the union.

In a previous interview with RFA, Chhim Sithar said she became motivated to take on a more active role in the union when she saw its leaders punished for pushing for better working conditions and higher employee wages.

For years now, it has been Chhim Sithar herself bearing the brunt of the fight. She was suspended by NagaWorld on the night of Sept. 20, 2019, after she pressed management for an explanation as to why it ordered company security guards to inspect an employee’s bag.

During the bag check, guards confiscated a T-shirt saying, “Decent wages for workers bring about the company’s growth.” The company accused Chhim Sithar of being behind the T-shirt campaign. She was not reinstated until Cambodia was hit hard by the COVID-19 virus in early 2021 and NagaWorld needed workers.

NagaWorld also sued Chhim Sithar for U.S. $1.7 million for leading what it said were illegal strikes in 2013 that damaged the company’s interests. The lawsuit has yet to be heard by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, but in the meantime, Chhim Sithar filed an appeal against the court’s procedures for trying to turn the collective labor dispute into personal dispute targeting her.

“I am happy to see that she dares to devote her work to her colleagues for the sake of labor rights,” Chhim Yiek, Chhim Sithar’s elder brother, told RFA. “She is well-loved by her colleagues and team for the fact that she effortlessly advocates for them.”

Chhim Yiek said he supported his sister’s education in Phnom Penh, and that she attained the highest level of education of any member of the family. He said his sister never wanted to marry, but instead had devoted herself to her fight for labor rights up to the day she was arrested.

Ou Tephalin, president of Cambodian Food and Service Workers’ Federation and a close friend of Chhim Sithar, described the union leader as resolute and willing to risk her personal freedom for the sake of her coworkers . She isn’t paid for her union work, Ou Tephalin said.

“Wherever Sithar has gone, she has never forgotten to talk about social issues, even though it could be holiday time when we normally don’t want to talk about negative or stressful things,” she said. “Sithar remains outspoken.”

Examining the root causes

Ou Tephalin said that Cambodian authorities have sided with casino management by arresting and detaining the eight union leaders. The goal, she said, is to break up the union.

“This is not the first time that NagaWorld has fired union leaders,” she said. “The first union leader was fired by the company before and the company continued its ongoing efforts to persecute the second union leader, including Miss Chhim Sithar.”

“If we examine the root causes, it is about the fact that the company itself is trying to obliterate leaders and their union from the company,” Ou Tephalin said. “The real intention of the workers is to protect the existence of the union to represent them within the company.”

NagaWorld casino is a subsidiary of NagaCorp Ltd., a Hong Kong exchange-listed company and one of the world’s most profitable gaming outfits. It claims to be the largest gaming entertainment company in the Mekong Region.

According to the company’s website, NagaWorld owns, manages, and operates Phnom Penh’s only integrated hotel-casino entertainment complex and enjoys a monopoly within a 200-kilometer (124-mile) radius of the capital until 2045.

A 2017 leaked text message by Chen Lip Keong, NagaCrp’s chief executive officer, revealed to his close business ties with the wife and children of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the sons of Sok An, the late deputy prime minister. None of the parties confirmed or denied the leaked information.

Despite lockdown conditions amid the coronavirus pandemic, the company reported that it generated U.S. $173 million in profit during the first half of 2020 and U.S. $74.7 million dollars during the same period in 2021.

Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Indonesia and Malaysia, two of ASEAN’s founders, on Thursday criticized the Cambodian prime minister’s controversial trip to crisis-ridden Myanmar last week, with Kuala Lumpur’s top diplomat saying Hun Sen should have consulted other members of the bloc first.

An official at Indonesia’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, urged Cambodia to stick to what the 10-member regional bloc had agreed to in meetings, including a five-point consensus to put Myanmar on the path to democracy.

The public comments from the officials were the first by ASEAN member-states outside Cambodia and Myanmar after Hun’s Sen’s trip to Naypyidaw on Jan. 7-8.

“Malaysia is of the opinion that [Hun Sen] has the right to visit Myanmar as head of government of Cambodia,” Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah told reporters at a dinner in Kuala Lumpur, when asked about Hun Sen’s visit to Myanmar.

“However, we also feel that because he has already assumed the chair of ASEAN, he could have probably consulted if not all, a few other ASEAN leaders and seek their views as what he should do if he were to go to Myanmar,” Saifuddin added, referring to Cambodia’s role as the 2022 holder of the bloc’s rotating chairmanship.

The Southeast Asian bloc took a hard line against Myanmar late last year when it disinvited coup leader Min Aung Hlaing from its top meeting of the year, the ASEAN summit, because the senior general had reneged on the five-point consensus. Similarly, before that, an ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar canceled his trip there after he was told he could not meet all parties in the conflict, including democracy leaders such as Aung San Suu Kyi.

Hun Sen, though, upon assuming the chairmanship of ASEAN, promptly said that the junta should be represented at meetings. He then dashed off to Myanmar, met the junta leader and did not meet democracy leaders.

ASEAN members needed to work in concert to achieve progress in hammering out a solution to the situation in Myanmar, Abdul Kadir Jailani, director general for Asia, the Pacific and Africa at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday.

“We hope that the Cambodian chairmanship can consistently implement what has been agreed [to] in previous ASEAN meetings – the implementation of the five-point consensus – and make efforts to achieve significant progress,” he said.

“That’s what we have to work on together.”

Noeleen Heyzer, the United Nations special envoy on Myanmar, meanwhile stressed the same point in a conversation with Hun Sen on Thursday.

‘No significant progress’

Indonesia, the largest and most populous nation in Southeast Asia, along with Malaysia, were among the five original members of ASEAN when it was born in 1967. The bloc has long operated on the principle of consensus in collective actions and policies.

The Indonesian and Malaysian officials made their comments a day after Cambodia canceled an in-person ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Siem Reap set for Jan. 18-19, citing travel difficulties for regional diplomats. But, according to analysts, the shelving happened likely because several of the bloc’s-member states had decided not to attend the meeting in protest of Hun Sen’s unilateralism on Myanmar.

Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore have previously backed shutting out the military regime’s representatives from these gatherings for their failure to implement ASEAN’s consensus reached last April, two months after the Feb. 1 coup that toppled an elected Burmese government.

When asked which countries this time around had reservations about Hun Sen’s trip, Saifuddin declined to name names, but said there were some which said the Cambodian PM had the right to visit Myanmar.

“There are people who think that he should not have taken the visit because his visit has been construed as some recognition to the military junta of Myanmar,” Saifuddin said.

“But there are also others who feel that, well, as the head of government of Cambodia, he has the liberty to visit Myanmar for what is seen as normal bilateral visit. President Jokowi called him before his visit and I am sure you have read the discussion between Hun Sen and Jokowi.”

Saifuddin was referring to comments made on Twitter by Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo after a phone conversation with Hun Sen.

“Should there be no significant progress on the implementation of 5PCs [five-point consensus], Myanmar should only be represented by non-political level at ASEAN meetings,” Jokowi had said.

And when asked whether Hun Sen’s trip to Myanmar had achieved anything, Saifuddin replied “no.”

Regarding Cambodia’s postponement of the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting, Saifuddin said the Omicron situation and other diplomats’ prior commitments meant that not everyone could attend.

As for Indonesia’s Abdul Kadir, he said that Indonesia understood that the postponement was due to travel restrictions following the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

“But at the same time, we must also admit that within ASEAN there are still many things that we need to iron out in order to come to a common stand on the issue of Myanmar’s representation,” he said.

“We know that there has been no significant progress … so Indonesia is consistent with the previous decision taken by ASEAN that Myanmar should only be represented by non-political representatives.”

Cambodia did not announce when the foreign ministers meeting would take place, and Indonesia’s Abdul Kadir also said he did not know either.

“What we know is that the physical meeting will be postponed. As for a new date or whether it will be held virtually, we are still communicating,” he said.

United Nations Special Envoy on Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer (right, on television screen) speaks to  Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia (left, on TV screen) at a virtual meeting, in Phnom Penh, Jan. 13, 2022. [Photo courtesy of Samdech Hun Sen, Cambodian Prime Minister via Facebook]

‘Can’t be at a stalemate’

Muhammad Arif, an international relations professor at the University of Indonesia, said any upcoming ASEAN meeting would be key to determining progress on Myanmar.

“If in the next ASEAN meeting, Myanmar is represented in full official capacity and with full diplomatic credentials, it will clearly be a setback for Indonesia, which rejects the military junta in Myanmar,” he told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

Divisions within ASEAN will also only embolden the military rulers in Myanmar, he said.

“He [Hun Sen] should speak in his capacity as chairman of ASEAN and his recommendations should be in line with the five-point consensus. The emphasis should be on seeking constructive dialogue involving all parties,” Arif said.

For his part, Cambodia’s PM Hun Sen took to Facebook on Thursday to defend his meeting with Burmese junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.

He said the meeting between him and the Burmese military leader was in line with the ASEAN constitution and the bloc’s five-point consensus.

“Cambodia’s plan over the recent visit to Burma as the ASEAN chair is to seek solutions to end the violence, and [ensure a] ceasefire, which are in line with the five- point consensus. In addition, [the meeting aims] to provide humanitarian aid needed by Myanmar during this transition period,” he wrote.

“We can’t be at a stalemate and we need to seek solutions to resolve this deadlock in order to find an opportunity for negotiation.”

One regional analyst, Derek Grossman, said via Twitter on Thursday that he believes the divisions in ASEAN are stark.

“Hun Sen’s recent Myanmar visit exposes deep ASEAN fissures. Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore are against legitimizing the junta. But Cambodia along with Laos, Vietnam and Thailand all likely think there’s no other option,” he said.

“ASEAN is in trouble.”

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, with additional reporting by RFA’s Khmer Service.

More than 20,000 people who fled fighting between the military and anti-junta forces in two townships in Myanmar’s Kayin state remain displaced as clashes continue in the area, residents and aid groups said Wednesday, creating a humanitarian crisis that is spilling across the border into neighboring Thailand.

Burmese Aid for Refugees spokesman Ye Min told RFA’s Myanmar Service that the refugees originated from the townships of Myawaddy and Kawkareik, where for nearly a month government troops have battled a combined group of prodemocracy People’s Defense Force militiamen and fighters with the Karen National Liberation Army — the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU) political group.

“Currently, there are tens of thousands of people who have fled the fighting in Myawaddy township due to the intensity of the Lay Kay Kaw clashes [beginning on Dec. 15],” he said.

“There are thousands more in Kawkareik township and in Mutraw district in KNU [controlled] territory — the refugees have not yet been able to return home. We estimate this based on the location of the villages and the population. The number of refugees could be even more than 20,000.”

Most refugees have fled to makeshift camps along the banks of the Thaung Yin (Moei) River and into neighboring Thailand, with more crossing the border every day. Those in Thailand told RFA that Thai authorities have allowed them to stay and accept relief items from donors. An estimated 4,700 refugees from Myanmar are sheltering in Thailand, according to the Thai government.

Aid workers told RFA on Thursday that the Thai government had sheltered “more than 3,000” refugees from Myanmar at a cattle ranch and nearby buildings in Mae Sot’s Mae Kot Kin village in Tak province, due to the continued fighting across the border in and around Lay Kaw Kaw.

They said that during the third week of December, about 6,000 refugees from Myanmar fled across the border, after which some returned, and others resettled with friends and family in Thailand. A tiny fraction of the refugees was urgently resettled in third countries, as well.

Ye Min, of the Aid Alliance Committee relief organization, said the number of Myanmar refugees in Thailand fluctuates between 3,000 and 5,000 a day, as some are moving back to Myanmar or Thailand depending on fighting situations. He said some refugees were living in makeshift tents along the banks of the river on the Myanmar side of the border to monitor the intensity of the fighting.

“There are about seven or eight groups with their own population of 100-200 on the Myanmar side of the river,” he said.

“If the situation gets worse, they can easily run to the other side and stay by the river. If the situation is better, they can go back to their villages. The sides are in proximity. The refugees live that way, tolerating the situation.”

Clashes ongoing

Meanwhile, fighting continues in Kayin state, with residents and aid groups reporting heavy shelling on Wednesday morning in Ploo village near Lay Kay Kaw and a military airstrike in Kawkareik township earlier this week.

A refugee inside Thailand told RFA on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal, that most people who have tried to return home come back to the border amid the ongoing clashes.

“[Karen leaders] came to the refugee camps and tried to persuade people to return. They said people could return home, but even people who left the Thai side have come back,” she said.

“It is not safe to go back because fighting could erupt at any time.”

She said the refugees are living on donor-supplied food and aid and are concerned about their long-term survival. Among those sheltering along the riverbank on the Myanmar side are the elderly, newborn babies and the sick, she said, adding that there is a shortage of medicine in the area and no access to medical care.

Junta claims

The junta has arrested more than 8,560 civilians and killed 1,463 since its Feb. 1 coup, mostly during non-violent protests of the coup, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Following the takeover, the military launched offensives in several of the country’s remote border regions, where residents have reported various human rights abuses perpetrated by government troops against civilians.

When asked whether authorities intend to resettle the refugees from Kayin who are sheltering along the border with Thailand, junta Deputy Information Minister Zaw Min Tun said efforts are “underway.”

“In the case of Lay Kay Kaw, or wherever they may be, our policy is to ensure that [refugees] can be resettled in their original homes,” he said.

“We called them back for resettlement within two or three days after the fighting. We are always working to resettle refugees.”

However, a People’s Defense Force member who is fighting alongside the Karen National Liberation Army in Kawkareik township told RFA that the fighting has not stopped, and that the junta is still targeting the area with airstrikes.

“There have been two airstrikes in Kawkareik in recent days. They were using helicopter gunships,” he said.

“It was a bit quiet yesterday and today but on the Lay Kay Kaw side, there was artillery fire this morning fired towards Ploo. On the Lay Kay Kaw side, refugees have been running from place to place due to heavy artillery fire. They can’t stay in any one place and are on the move at all times.”

Refugees at risk

A statement issued on Thursday by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that in southeast Myanmar, at least 654 houses and other civilian properties — including churches and schools — have been destroyed or burnt down since May. It said that as of Jan. 3, some 162,000 people remained displaced from Kayin and Kayah states since fleeing their homes.

Those displaced by the recent fighting join more than 500,000 refugees from decades of conflict between the military and ethnic armed groups who were already counted as displaced at the end of 2020, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, a Norwegian NGO.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

On Dec. 20, 2021, U.S. Undersecretary of State Uzra Zeya was designated by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to serve as U.S. special coordinator for Tibetan issues. She will serve in this role concurrently with her position as undersecretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights. On Jan. 13, RFA Tibetan Service reporter Tashi Wangchuk spoke with Uzra Zeya about her new role and the challenges lying ahead. The interview was edited for length.

RFA: This is your first media interview since becoming the U.S. special coordinator for Tibetan issues. Thank you so much for speaking with us. You have stressed the importance of promoting dialogue without preconditions between the People’s Republic of China and His Holiness the Dalai Lama or his representatives. Can you elaborate on this? Have you started to reach out to the PRC or the Dalai Lama on this matter?

Uzra Zeya: Well, first of all, I’m so honored to be able to take on this role and that Secretary Blinken has designated me to serve as the special coordinator for Tibetan Issues and has elevated this role again to the under secretary level. Since being named I have engaged intensively first with the Central Tibetan Administration, and I was very pleased to meet with their North American representative in my first meeting since taking on this role. I am already engaging with other like-minded partners who we hope will work alongside us in seeking to advance the human rights of the Tibetan people and help preserve their unique cultural, religious, historical and linguistic traditions.

So with respect to direct dialogue: yes, we call upon the PRC to engage in direct dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama or his representatives without preconditions in the hope that this can help achieve a negotiated agreement on Tibet that provides the best hope for the long-term stability of the region and its people.

RFA: China is trying to make Mandarin Chinese the common language in all minority areas including Tibet by 2035, and the PRC is rapidly implementing its policy of Sinicizing Tibetan Buddhism by forcing monks and scholars to learn Chinese and translate Tibetan Buddhist texts into Chinese. Many are very concerned that this will eradicate the Tibetan language and religion. What can the Biden administration and the international community do to stop this from happening?

Uzra Zeya: The United States is deeply concerned by the human rights abuses perpetrated by the PRC against the Tibetan people, and this includes the Sinicization efforts that you mentioned. We’re also seeing abusive practices including arbitrary arrest and detention, censorship, restrictions on freedom of movement, restrictions on peaceful assembly, and interference in the veneration by Tibetan Buddhists of their religious leaders, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama. So our view is very clear-cut. We believe this interference and repression needs to stop. I think it’s vitally important to shine a light on what’s happening, and our public reporting and annual reports on human rights or annual reports on international religious freedom are vitally important ways to show what’s happening and to build international support for calling for these practice to end.

RFA: When are you planning to meet with His Holiness the Dalai Lama? Has a date been set? Would you go to Dharamsala?

Uzra Zeya: Let me say first of all that I was so honored to receive a letter of congratulations from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and I took to heart his support for my mission. So I certainly hope to have the opportunity to engage His Holiness the Dalai Lama directly. As you know, the challenges of the global pandemic have made it a little bit more difficult in terms of our international travel and engagement, so we’re taking full advantage of the ability to engage virtually. But I certainly hope to have the opportunity to engage His Holiness the Dalai Lama directly, and once we have a confirmation we’ll be happy to share it publicly.

RFA: What message would you like to give to Tibetans inside Tibet and throughout Asia?

Uzra Zeya: I think the message I would like to give to your Tibetan audience is one of U.S. appreciation and solidarity to underscore our commitment to advance the human rights of the Tibetan people and our appreciation for your culture and for your unique religious and linguistic traditions, and to tell you that the U.S. is absolutely resolute in offering continued humanitarian support. And I’m working to build an international partnership to help bring an end to this severe repression being experienced by Tibetans inside China.

A shortage of tires in North Korea is forcing many of the nation’s motor vehicles off the road, crippling the ability of some companies to carry out normal business operations, company officials in the country told RFA.

Automobiles are a relatively rare sight on the northern half of the Korean peninsula, especially outside of the capital Pyongyang. Even there, usually only the wealthy elites own cars.

Most of the motor vehicles in the country are attached to either the military or to state-owned companies.

The shortage is yet another effect of a two-year-long border closure and trade ban with China due to the coronavirus. Sources said domestic production of tires is negligible and importing tires has been almost impossible.

“New tires are very rare and even used tires are hard to find,” an administrative official at a transportation company in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told RFA’s Korean Service on Jan. 9.

“Tire shortages have occurred in the past, but it is extremely difficult to find them these days, just like it was during the Arduous March,” the source said, referring to the 1994-1998 North Korean famine and economic collapse which killed millions of people.

The source said that two of the four cars owned by his company cannot be used due to the tire shortage.

“Drivers will use the same tires until the treads are worn out and shiny, so it has become the norm to re-use punctured or torn tires by putting a small piece of an old tire tube over them. Sometimes they have to be put in at an angle because the tires they are using are either larger or smaller than the vehicle’s specifications,” the source said.

“I have never seen new tires produced locally. Since international trade is stopped due to the border closure, it has become difficult to import used tires,” said the source.

The ban has become problematic for many North Korean drivers who use their vehicles for supplemental jobs in the country’s nascent market economy, the source said.

“They can no longer drive their cars to earn a little extra income because they don’t have tires.”

At a company in Hongwon county in nearby South Hamgyong province, a 2.5-ton truck has been grounded since the fall because its tires are worn out, an official from the company told RFA Jan. 10.

“Due to a fuel shortage a long time ago, the vehicle was converted to run on wood charcoal fuel. We only used it a little bit, only when it was absolutely necessary. But these days even if you have charcoal, you still can’t drive it because the tires are worn out,” said the second source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.

“Drivers these days can make money by driving their company cars as they wish, and they pay for tires and parts by themselves. They sometimes even provide their own charcoal when they need to, but now they can’t because they can’t find tires,” the second source said.

The second source said the company’s policy on after-hours use has kept many of the company’s vehicles in commission until now.

“The cars would have been out of service long ago if it were not up to the drivers to maintain them. Among the other businesses in the province that have been supplied with cars like we have, many have already disposed of their vehicles,” the second source said.

Only the most profitable companies, like the fisheries, have enough money to keep their vehicles running, the second source said.

“Ultimately, things are more difficult for most companies because without tires there is no choice but to park the vehicles. This makes life harder for their workers.”

Translated by Claire Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

The U.S. State Department has issued its most comprehensive study yet on China’s sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea and concludes that they amount to an unlawful claim to most of the disputed waterway and “gravely undermine the rule of law.”

The 47-page ‘Limits in the Seas’ report, released on Wednesday, also states that China’s claim to “historic rights” over the South China Sea is unlawful – a finding that concurs with the decision of the 2016 international arbitration tribunal in a case brought by the Philippines.

China, which has ignored the tribunal, has been engaged in territorial disputes with five other claimants in the South China Sea. The Chinese claims are by far the largest, covering up to 90 percent of the sea.

“These claims, especially considering their expansive geographic and substantive scope, gravely undermine the rule of law in the oceans and numerous universally recognized provisions of international law reflected in the Convention (on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS),” the State Department report says.

In the report, the U.S. reiterates its call for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to conform its maritime claims to international law and to comply with the decision of the tribunal, as well as “to cease its unlawful and coercive activities in the South China Sea.”

China has yet to respond to the report, but in the past Beijing has insisted that it holds “historical rights” to most of the South China Sea and declared the arbitration tribunal’s ruling “null and void.” It also pointed out that the U.S. is not a signatory of UNCLOS which China ratified in 1996.

The U.S. report, which examines four categories of maritime claims made by China, is one of a series issued by the State Department’s Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs on maritime claims by different countries.

“It’s really well-argued, based on the latest information from Chinese sources,” said Bill Hayton, a well-known South China Sea scholar.

“It doesn’t change the U.S. position in any way but it gives everyone who follows developments in the South China Sea a really good set of data points on which to base their discussions,” he added.

‘Historical rights’

The U.S. position has always been that it doesn’t take side in the dispute about which country has sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea.

The new study “examines only the maritime claims asserted by the PRC and does not examine the merits of sovereignty claims to islands in the South China Sea asserted by the PRC or other States.”

However, the findings show that “the overall effect of these maritime claims is that the PRC unlawfully claims sovereignty or some form of exclusive jurisdiction over most of the South China Sea.”

In recent years, China has been developing artificial islands and stepping up military presence to reinforce its sovereignty claims despite concerns and protests from neighboring countries.

The new report builds on a previous U.S. analysis of China’s so-called “nine-dash line” that encircles most of the South China Sea and serves as the basis for the claim to “historical rights” in the sea.

“The idea of ‘historic rights’ in the South China Sea was invented by Professor Kuen-Chen Fu and other nationalist ‘New Party’ politicians in Taiwan in the late 1980s and 1990s,” explained Hayton, adding that it was then incorporated into China’s legal framework.

China also claimed that its nine-dash line is a successor to the U-shaped line map issued by the Republic of China government, based in Taiwan, in 1947.

But Taiwan, despite being a claimant, “does not recognize the nine-dash line used by China to claim ‘historical rights’ in the South China Sea,” said Chung-Ting Huang, a research fellow at the Taiwanese Institute for National Defense and Security Research.

“Taiwan and China are not on the same page about the definition of the nine-dash line,” Huang said.

Noting that China has not provided any additional information about the substantive content of this historical rights claim, the “Limits in the Seas” report said the claim is inconsistent with international law and “the international community, including littoral states of the South China Sea, has made clear that it rejects the PRC’s ‘historic rights’ claim.”

Other maritime claims

Besides “historic rights,” three other categories of claims examined in the State Department’s report are sovereignty claims over maritime features; straight baselines; and maritime zones.

Baselines are demarcation lines connecting the outermost points of the features of archipelago that are meant to circumscribe the territory that belongs to it.

China claims sovereignty over more than 100 features in the South China Sea that are submerged by water during high tide.

Beijing has been drawing straight baselines around four groups of scattered islands in order to claim ownership of everything within those baselines.

Analyzing each of those claims using UNCLOS, the report said that China’s “expansive maritime claims are plainly inconsistent with international law.”

“The United States and numerous other states have rejected these claims in favor of the rules-based international maritime order within the South China Sea and worldwide,” it concluded.