Federico Bordonaro

Analisi scritta per il Power and Interest News Report. Geopolitica di una posta in gioco.

In Asian maritime geopolitics, the South China Sea functions as a vital gateway that links the Gulf’s oil to East Asia via the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia. Although during the recent decades of the Cold War the sometimes aggressive Chinese policy toward Southeast Asian states was tolerated by Washington because of China’s role as a counterweight to the U.S.S.R., after 1991 this state of affairs changed.

Certain figures display the importance of the Spratly Islands as a transport route: the South China Sea is the world’s second busiest international sea lane and conveys roughly one-fourth of the globe’s crude oil and oil products.

Tokyo’s tankers carry around 70 percent of Japan’s oil on these sea lanes, while 90 percent of the oil needed by Washington’s northeast Asian allies reaches its destination through the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea. Liquefied natural gas, coal, and iron ore are conveyed through the above mentioned route. The waters are also the site of a massive fishing industry. A country that would have the capability to interrupt the free navigation of the sea lines would pose a significant threat to the other powers’ energy security.