Faulty translations misled Beijing’s sea claims (1) - Institute for Maritime and Ocean Affairs

For decades Beijing’s communist rulers have been feeding the Chinese hoodoo history. They preach in schools that China has owned the islands, rocks, reefs, and waters of the South China Sea since time immemorial. “Abundant historical facts” supposedly back this up.

Yet genuine accounts from 6,000 years ago to the present disprove Beijing’s propaganda. Records tell of the sea being a migration and trade route, as well as fishing and piracy zone, of Southeast Asians (see Gotcha, 4, 6, and 8 Aug. 2014). China’s rich history depicts it as a land power dependent on agriculture. Admiral Zheng He’s voyages came several thousand years after the Malay conquest of Madagascar, off Africa across the Indian Ocean.

Maps are historical facts. Ancient maps of the Philippines and Southeast Asia have always shown Scarborough Shoal to be part of Luzon (Gotcha, 27 and 29 Oct. 2014). This debunks Beijing’s basis to invade the seamark that has been Filipino fishing grounds for centuries.