BRUNEI TERRITORIAL CLAIMS ON THE SPRATLY ISLANDS WITH THE USED OF INTERNATIONAL LAW OF THE SEA AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION.

Nurul Enigma, Mohamad Khalik (2022) BRUNEI TERRITORIAL CLAIMS ON THE SPRATLY ISLANDS WITH THE USED OF INTERNATIONAL LAW OF THE SEA AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION. Masters thesis, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.

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Abstract

The Spratly Islands Dispute in the South China Sea has been the most contested maritime area in recent years. Brunei has been a late comer and a quiet claimant country in the Spratly Islands Dispute. This research intends to identify the main reasons for Brunei’s claim and its ambivalent to pursue its claimed on the South China Sea for years. It also analyse Brunei’s government actions in exerting its claim especially with overlapping countries notably Malaysia and China. It also further analyse Brunei’s involvement in the context of multilateralism through ASEAN mechanism and other international organizations. This research applied the Law of the Sea to justify Brunei’s claim and conflict resolution through diplomacy and multilateral means to solve the Spratly Islands dispute in the South China Sea. This research uses qualitative method through interviews and secondary data gathering as for data collection. Nevertheless, interviews have been limited due to covid-19 and control movement order. The pertinent findings for this thesis are; (1) Brunei claimed on Spratly Islands dispute is based on the United Nations Law of the Sea 1982 that the disputed maritime area is in Brunei’s Exclusive Economic Zone; (2) Brunei is firm on its claim with Malaysia demanding acknowledgement of its sovereign Exclusive Economic Zone maritime territory including Louisa Reef. However, Brunei is slightly less demanding on China to recognise its maritime sovereignty as it seeks China’s trade and investment, and the potential of China’s One Belt One Road initiative which could assist Brunei in diversifying its economy; and; (3) As a small country, Brunei’s involvement in solving the dispute peacefully is through ASEAN multilateral initiative such as pushing for the Code of Conduct among the claimant countries.

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