Opinion | Beyond the US and China, European powers in the South China Sea will be a key focus of the dispute this year

The likes of France, Germany and Britain have sought to signal that the row – and Chinese assertion in the area – is a matter of international concern

With vessels from the three nations set to pass through the waterway, Beijing’s reaction could determine the dispute’s trajectory

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The US Navy 7th Fleet on a deployment to the South China Sea. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:00am, 26 Feb 2021Updated: 9:05am, 26 Feb 2021

In August last year, as the Covid-19 pandemic raged through much of Asia, I wrote a cover story for the Post’s This Week in Asia magazine about esoteric developments surrounding the South China Sea dispute that were mainly being parsed by legal wonks.

At the time, the likes of Vietnamese ocean law scholar Trang Pham told me to closely monitor which countries were issuing notes verbale – or diplomatic notes – to the United Nations with regards to China’s “nine-dash line” claim.

By December, the list of those who had put out the notes was Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, the United States and Australia – along with a joint submission from France, Britain and Germany.

There had not been such a flurry of notes over the dispute since 2009-11.

These memos either directly challenged China’s sweeping claims by pointing out the findings of a 2016 arbitral ruling that dismissed Beijing’s assertions, or mentioned the judgment’s key points.