What Happens If China Claims Most of South China sea?

Last year China issued a map clarifying  its territory and its exclusive economic zone in reference to a large portion of the South China sea.  The map called 9 dot extends into the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam.  Looking at the map below the red line is the area claimed by China comes within the territories which would be within the borders of the aforementioned  nations.   The blue lines indicate the exclusive economic zones of the countries China is in dispute with over the area shown.

In the case of the Scarborough Shoal claimed both by China sent naval vessels into the surrounding waters attempting to intimidate the Philippines and its military.   China believes it worked and that they now control the Scarborough Shoal.  Chia feels these same tactics can used in its any territorial disputes with the nations in the South China sea and its dispute with Japan and the Senkaku islands.

     'Asserting control'

"There are growing concerns that this pattern of behaviour in the South China Sea reflects incremental effort by China to assert control over the area... despite objections of its neighbours," Mr Russel told a congressional committee.

"Any Chinese claim to maritime rights not based on claimed land features would be inconsistent with international law," he said.

'Amateurish politician'

On Wednesday, China's state news agency branded Philippine President Benigno Aquino a "disgrace" for comments in connection with the territorial row in which he compared China to Nazi Germany.

Mr Aquino called for world leaders not to appease China over its claims in the South China Sea in the same way nations tried to appease Hitler before World War Two.

"At what point do you say: 'Enough is enough'? Well, the world has to say it. Remember that the Sudetenland [part of what was then called Czechoslovakia] was given in an attempt to appease Hitler to prevent World War Two," Mr Aquino said in an interview with the New York Times on Tuesday.

An angry commentary on the state-run Xinhua news agency branded Mr Aquino an "amateurish politician who was ignorant both of history and reality".