As depicted in various official and unofficial Chinese maps, the line extends off the coast of China’s Hainan Island, and runs close to the coast of Vietnam, deep into the South China Sea, enclosing the Spratly Islands.
North of Borneo, near the coasts of Malaysia and Brunei, the line turns and runs to the west of the Philippines and ends just to the south of Taiwan.
The line has long been the subject of speculation as to what exactly it purports to encompass. Is it a Chinese territorial claim? Is it a Chinese claim to a maritime space? Does it extend to sovereignty over the whole area or just to resources?
China has never been very explicit as to precisely what the claim includes but it has been persistent in seeking to advance the claim.
This has especially been the case since Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam have begun to advance their own claims to parts of the South China Sea, which overlap the nine-dash line.
WHO DISPUTES THE LINE?
A 2009 joint Malaysia-Vietnam submission to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf highlighted competing claims over the continental shelf in the South China Sea, which is what sparked the current controversy.
China made a formal diplomatic response to the UN claiming: “China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and the adjacent waters, and enjoys indisputable sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the relevant waters as well as the seabed and subsoil thereof (see attached map)”.
China attached a copy of the nine-dash line map to its formal diplomatic protest to the Malaysia-Vietnam submission and added: “The above position is consistently held by the Chinese government, and is widely known by the international community”.
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