Thayer Consultancy Background Briefing:

ABN # 65 648 097 123

China Names Eighty
Geographical Features in the
South China Sea
Carlyle A. Thayer
April 21, 2020
We are currently writing a report on China’s recent decision to name eighty
geographical features in the South China Sea, some of which are underwater. See:
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1186084.shtml
This comes a day after China announced that the Paracel and Spratly islands would
come under the administration of Hainan Island. We request your assessment of the
following:
Q1. Will China’s actions anger its neighbours with whom it has competing territorial
claims?
ANSWER: China’s renaming of geographical features in the South China Sea will
provoke a diplomatic protest from Vietnam. It is uncertain at this stage how the
Philippines and Malaysia will react because both have pursued a quiescent policy
towards their conflicting claims with China.
China has long claimed it was the first to discover, name, occupy and administer land
features in the South China Sea. This is palpably not the case. China’s claims are
reminiscent of European claims that took no notice of the indigenous people and
their claims to ownership.
China’s actions will only reinforce littoral states’ determination to use the names of
land and other features in the South China Sea in their national language that they
have been using for decades.
Q2. Is there any significance to the timing? Why is China asserting itself now in the
South China Sea?
ANSWER: Many analysts argue that China is using the COVID-19 pandemic to be
more assertive in the South China Sea when littoral states are busy confronting the
coronavirus. I argue that this is not the case and that China is conducting ‘business
as usual’ to assert its claims and to gradually extend its control over the South China
Sea. It is more likely, in my view, that China’s actions in standing up two
administrative districts in the South China Sea and revising the names of eighty
geographical features is a product of internal bureaucratic processes and is
unrelated to the current coronavirus pandemic.
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Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “China Names Eighty Geographical Features in

the South China Sea,” Thayer Consultancy Background Brief, April , 2020. All
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