“ASPIRE TO INSPIRE BEFORE WE EXPIRE”

PANMUNIIBACKGROUND GUIDE

Council of Leaders

Index

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Welcome                                                                                                                               3-4

Background                                                                                                                         5-34

Guiding Questions                                                                                                                 35

Glossary                                                                                                                           36-38

Bibliography                                                                                                                     39-40

WelcomeDear delegates of PANMUN II,

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 I welcome you to the second edition of the model of Colegio Panamericano, my name is Tomas Galvez and I will be the co-president of the committee of Council of Leaders (COL), and alongside with me, the other co-president of the committee, Flor Daniela Pinto. With the help of the delegates, we will find a solution to the problem at hand. This committee will require you to be at your fullest, to be prepared for any challenges presented to you on this committee, and as I previously said, find a non-violent solution to this situation. We hope it is a gracious experience for you and everyone. If you have any uncertainty don’t have second thoughts and you can either ask my partner or myself, we will be pleased to aid you in any way possible. See you in April! Tomas GalvezCo-President - COL*************************************************************************Welcome

Dear delegates of PANMUN II,

Welcome to the committee of Council of Leaders committee for PANMUN 2020, my name is Flor Daniela Pinto and I am honored to be serving as the co-president of this committee next to Tomas Galvez. The topics we will address this year are the terrorists acts in the region of Syria and the territorial dispute of the South China Sea.  

As representatives of your country, we expect from you great compromise and participation on this committee, in order to find appropriate and non violent solutions that would satisfy the objective of this committee.   If you have any question or doubts do not hesitate to contact either my partner Tomas or me. We will be glad and happy to help you.  I wish you best of luck and we are looking forward to seeing you at the conferenceSincerely, Flor Daniela Pinto. Co-President – COL

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BACKGROUND GUIDE

Threats to national peace and security caused by terrorist acts in the region of Syria:*************************************************************************

*****THE COMMITTEE WILL MAINLY FOCUS DATING FROM THE ARAB SPRING OF 2011 UNTIL THE PRESENT DAY (APRIL 15-17, 2020)

*************************************************************************Introduction:

Since July of 2000, Bashar Al-Assad has been president of the Syrian Arab Republic,

succeeding his father who previously was also the president, Hafez al-Assad. During the

presidency of Al- Assad in 2011 an uprising of pro-democracy upheavals began, they were

demanding the resignation of Al-Assad and an end towards the authoritarian practices that

the Syrian 

government was doing in order to basically silence the protests, the practices included the

use of violence to restrain demonstrations, making excessive use of police, military, and

paramilitary forces against its own citizens, and media censorship. One of the factors

mainly contributing towards the civil war was the environmental crisis that Syria was

passing along through 2006 and 2010, during this period, Syria experienced the droughts

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throughout its entire country and forcing people into poverty and a mass rural migration,

the protests mainly began in rural area but later became something that began in almost

every city of the country. What began as peaceful protests, later became violent as the

police force where firing and beating the protesters, this images were later caught by

witnesses and began to leak towards foreign media outlets. The four main warring parties

that began this protests, what is now being considered a civil war, were the Kurdish forces,

ISIS, the Syrian government, and other opposition groups. According to the UN High

Commissioner for refugees, approximately 5.7 million people have fled the middle eastern

country, and more than 6.1 million people have been displaced internally. 

Background:

Refugee Crisis:More than 5.6 million Syrians have been forced out of their homes and out of the country

and another 6.6 million have been driven from their homes but remain trapped inside the

country. The vast majority of Syrian refugees have found safety in neighboring countries –

Turkey hosts more than 3 million. Syrian refugees have escaped to neighboring countries in

the region with the overwhelming majority finding refuge in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan.

Syrians refugees are living in urban centers as well as in makeshift shelters and informal

settlements in places like Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

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Subversive groups:Kurds VS ISIS: At the beginning of the protest in Syria, the government turned its attention to the uprisings and violent crackdown, it left a struggle for power in the north, were the jihadist militant group, ISIS, swept in during 2013. Significant portions of the region, which was home to Syria’s largest ethnic minority, called the Kurds having a population of 2 million Kurds, who were eventually conquered by ISIS, but Kurdish militias successfully fought back its territory. So the U.S backed them with air support and on the ground training in order to fight ISIS.

Internalization of the Civil War and Countries Involvement:

Syrian Arab Republic - Bashar Al-Assad:During 2011 president Bashar Al- Assad received a wave of protests which had sparked throughout middle eastern countries, this upheaval was called the Arab Spring, the Syrian forces used lethal force against the protestors, meanwhile, Assad had begun to abolish the Syrian emergency law and it’s Supreme State Security Court, both of which were used to suppress political opposition. Nonetheless, this caused a bigger uprising from the protests and Assad was drafting international condemnation for his regime. Later on, Assad began to deploy troops and tanks to cities where it had become the center of protests. During the allegations of massacres and violence, Assad claimed that Syria was being attacked by international conspirators in order to provoke sectarian warfare in Syria, he stated that the Syrian government was focused on the combatting of insurgent groups rather than civilians.

The United States of America - Donald J. Trump:As of 2018, President Donald J. Trump reported that he would have removed at least 2,000 troops from Syrian territory with the cause being that “We won against ISIS” declared the U.S president to a video posted on his Twitter account in December of 2018. Later on, during  January 16, 2019, an attack in Manbij, a terrorist act which was orchestrated by ISIS, during this attack it claimed 19 lives, of which 4 were American.

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Russian Federation - Vladimir Putin:   Since the first Russian airstrikes held in Syria on September 30th, 2015; President Putin has maintained himself busy towards the military intervention within Syria, supporting the government of Al-Assad. In September 2015, Russia launched a bombing campaign against what is referred to as "terrorist groups" in Syria, which included ISIS as well as anti-Assad rebel groups backed by the USA. During a televised interview on 11 October 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the military operation had been thoroughly developed beforehand; during the interview, he defined Russia′s goal in Syria as "stabilizing the legitimate power in Syria and creating the conditions for a political compromise”. Russia has done around 27 airstrikes to zones of which the UN had marked as a no-strike siteRepublic of Turkey - Recep Tayyip Erdoğan:Turkey has lately been sponsoring the rebel alliance known as the Syrian national army, this were equipped, trained, and paid for by the Turkish government. They are under the command of President Erdogan in order to fight the Kurdish armies, who were an important member of the defeat of ISIS in Syria. Recently this group recorded a video in which members where violently torturing a Kurdish fighter named Amara Renas. The video depicts the members screaming that they will behead the Kurdish soldier, Amara was killed in the recent Turkish assaults against Kurdish forces in Syria. US officials have said that some of the actions in these videos probably constitute war crimes. President Erdogan has long viewed the rise of the Kurds in Syria as a threat.French Republic - Emanuel Macron:France is one of the most outspoken European states to oppose President Assad, surpassing countries like the United Kingdom and Germany. On September 27, 2015, France became one of the first European countries, and certainly the first of the stronger European countries, to launch airstrikes on Syria. France is in complete opposition to President Assad participating in any part of a post-civil war transition process. France is motivated by several factors including, but not limited “to its ambitions as a great power, its international identity, and its desire to build reliable alliances with Sunni-majority states.Islamic Republic of Iran - Hassan Rouhani   Rouhani has supported the Assad government since at least 2012, giving the regime extensive military aid in the form of training, weapons and intelligence sharing. It has also deployed Iran's elite military force, (IRGC), and Shiite militias from across the region.  Its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon is also a major backer of the Assad regime. Iran has directly and indirectly been fighting against both moderate and extremist factions in the Syrian

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opposition, as well as ISIS. Syria has long been Iran's chief ally in the Middle East. Propping up Assad ensures an ally against Iran's regional rivals, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Tehran also needs Syria to transport weapons to Hezbollah, which also opposes Israel, in neighboring Lebanon.

Timeline:Uprising 2011- present:

March 15, 2011: Demonstrations break out in the city of Daraa after security forces arrested a group of boys accused of spray-painting anti-government graffiti. Security forces open fire on unarmed protesters, killing four. Security forces reportedly claiming some 60 lives on forces up to March 28. 

August 18, 2011: US President Barack Obama calls on Assad to resign and orders all Syrian government assets in the US to be frozen, preventing American citizens from making new investments in the country, and prohibiting any US transactions relating to Syrian petroleum products.

January 2012: Al-Qaeda forms a new branch in Syria, Jabhat Al-Nusra.

February 4, 2012:Russia and China veto a UN Security Council resolution that condemns the Assad regime’s violent crackdown and calls for a transition to a democratic political system in Syria.

July 19, 2012: The fighting spreads to Aleppo, the second-largest city in Syria. Chemical weapons threat. President Obama warns that if Syria uses chemical weapons, it will have "enormous consequences" that will change his thinking about intervening in the country's civil war. 

2013: In turn of Hezbollah entering the fight, the gulf states once again, Saudi Arabia really stepping up this time to send more money and more weapons to the rebels, this time through Jordan who also opposes Assad. By 2013, the middle east is mostly divided between mostly Sunni powers, generally supporting the rebels, and Shias supporting Assad’s regime.

August 2013: The Syrian government uses chemical weapons against civilians. To which President Obama responds “It is in the national security interest of the United States to respond to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons through a targeted military strike.”

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September 2014: The US begins bombing ISIS

September 2015: Russia intervenes on behalf of Assad, sending a few dozen military aircraft to a long-held Russian base in the country and its first airstrike on September 30th.

December 22nd, 2016:  Assad helped by Russian airpower and Iranian sponsored militias, retakes the Syrian city of Aleppo, knocking the rebels out of their last remaining urban stronghold. 

March 2017 :Israel acknowledges having conducted airstrikes against Hezbollah in Syria, aiming to degrade the growing strength of Iran and its allies.

April 14, 2018: U.S., U.K., and French forces launched airstrikes targeting chemical weapons facilities near Damascus and Homs in response to a chemical weapons attack in Douma a week prior.

December 19, 2018: US President Donald Trump tweets, "We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency."

April–June 2019: Human rights lawyers filed the first war crimes against the Syrian president at the international criminal court.

October 9, 2019: Turkey launches a military offensive into northeastern Syria, just days after US President Donald Trump's administration announced that US troops would leave the border area. This operation was called “operation spr

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Presidents and world leaders that will be present   in the committee for the topic of Threats to national peace and security caused by terrorist acts in the region of Syria:*************************************************************************These will be the presidents and leaders who will attend the committee. If the delegate wishes to be a president or leader, be it of a country, terrorist group (such as ISIS, Hezbollah, or Al-Qaeda), or a political party (such as Free Syrian army), that is not on this list please contact the presidents to take it in for consideration.

Also, some delegates might have two presidents or leaders to represent in the committee in order to stay relevant to each topic (Example: President Bashar Al Assad in topic #1 then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in topic #2), this would be under the discretion of the presidents. If you have any further questions about how the roles will be distributed please contact the presidents through the email address of the committee.*************************************************************************Bashar al-Assad - Syrian Arab RepublicNechirvan Barzani - KurdistanDonald J. Trump - United States of America Vladimir Putin - Russian FederationPrime Minister. Boris Jhonson - The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandXi Jinping - People’s Republic of ChinaFrank-Walter Steinmeier - The Federal Republic of GermanyJustin Trudeau  - CanadaAndrés Manuel López Obrador - The United Mexican States Emmanuel Macron - French RepublicKim Jong-un - Democratic People’s Republic of KoreaRecep Tayyip Erdoğan - Republic of Turkey

Hassan Rouhani - Islamic Republic of IranEmir. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani - State of QatarKing.    Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaMichel Aoun - Lebanese RepublicKhalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan - United Arab EmiratesReuven Rivlin - State of IsraelBarham Salih - Republic of IraqAbdullah II of Jordan Hashemite - Kingdom of JordanAbdel Fattah el-Sisi - Arab Republic of EgyptAshraf Ghani - Islamic Republic of AfghanistanPrime Minister. Stefan Löfven - Kingdom of SwedenRam Nath Kovind - Republic of IndiaSergio Mattarella - Italian Republic

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BACKGROUND GUIDETerritorial disputes in the South China Sea

Introduction:

For centuries, China has dealt with maritime territorial conflicts. In the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, World War II and the Cold War confrontations over the sovereignty of the Senkakis’s islands in the East China sea emerged. And throughout time due to its high abundance of hydrocarbons, natural gases, maritime life, and its profitable international

trade flow, the South China Sea had also joined the territorial claims disputes involving China and six other countries, including Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines, all surrounding the contentious area. In recent years,  China has displayed a firmness stand over its “nine-dash line,” which labels 80 percent of the Indo-Pacific region as their territorial holdings and maritime rights. China’s military power and oil extraction outpost had also increased in the region.

Background:Importance of the South China Sea:

The main international importance towards the South China Sea, includes both economic and security interests. This Indo Pacific Region operates as a major maritime and commercial transit route for the world’s biggest trading nations. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development around “60 percent of maritime trade passes through Asia, with the South China Sea carrying an estimated one-third of global shipping” (China Power). The stability and security of this water' concentration of commercial goods are particularly important for many international trading countries. The South China Sea also holds more than half of the world’s fishing vessel and millions of Asian people rest on these waters for their economic substances and nutrition.

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Nine dash line:

The Nine-Dash Line was first established in 1947 published by the government of the Republic of China with eleven dashes. Two of the dashes were removed in 1949 when the Chinese Communist Party gave the Gulf of Tonkin to Vietnam. Because China rarely asserted the nine-dash line publicly, it remained to be an ambiguous claim and relatively unknown, thus uncontroversial, until 2009. In 2009, China submitted a map to the UN that contained the nine-dash boundary to retaliate against Vietnam’s claim on a continental shelf and to furthermore claim sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly islands. This was met with backlash from the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia, who claimed that this was invalid under the UNCLOS’s EEZ system, as China’s self-assigned boundaries overlapped with several EEZs. In late 2012, China issued new passports that also contained the nine-dash line boundary, drawing more international criticism.

Internalization of South China Sea Disputes and Countries Involvement:China - Xi Jinping:     China has declared that tensions in the Asian region had heightened as a result of US’s warships and military presence in the Asian region and that their country would maintain their indisputable territorial claim of the South China Sea’s sovereignty.  According to Xue Gong of the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies, located in Singapore, “China has become more assertive in the South China Sea since Xi became General Secretary of the CCP in 2012” (Chubb 1). China’s president, Xi Jiping, had encouraged the construction of artificial islands, military outposts and naval activity in the heated region, researches and even himself had declared that Xi’s administration had lead China “from growing

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prosperous to getting strong [and militarized]” ( Chubb 1). Furthermore, China had sustained that based on international law, foreign armed forces are not allowed to execute military activities or even set foot in China’s “exclusive economic zone” (EEZ).

The United States of America - Donald J Trump:   The U.S State Department and Donald Trump's national security advisers had declared that China’s aggressive actions towards the natural resources of the South China Sea such as oil and gas, threatens the free navigation and stability of the economic market of the Indo-Pacific, which connects key trading global networks. Also, the US had announced that China’s military practices in the dispute region could potentially escalate tensions in the Asian territory, dangerous to the world’s economy. Since 2017, the US had already executed six FONOPs in the South China Sea area and in 2018 it conducted two more FONOPs. The United States, additionally declared that “claimant countries, under UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), should have freedom of navigation through EEZs in the sea and are not required to notify claimants of military activities.” (Council of Foreign Relations). Japan - Prime Minister. Shinzō Abe :   Japan had aided in the Philippines and Vietnam by selling its workforces such as military weapons and ships. This way other Asian countries can suit themselves with the necessary arms to defend from China’s threat. The dispute between China and Japan mainly lie in the East China Sea between Senkaku Islands and the Diaoyu Islands. Both nations claim sovereignty to both of these islands, as they are close to important shipping lanes, and also hold rich resources for fishing, oil, and natural gas. In the South China Sea, Japan has been increasing their defense diplomacy with many other ASEAN countries, such as the Philippines and Vietnam, with increasing numbers of bilateral military exercises and agreements on military defense equipment.

Timeline:1947- present:

1947: China labels its South China Sea territorial claims by sketching a U-shaped line with eleven dashes that covered almost all the sea region. In 1949,  the Communist People’s Republic of China proclaims itself and in 1953 it removed the Gulf of Tonkin section, eliminating two dashes of the map and making it a “nine-dash line”. 

1997: The Philippines uses its military ships to stops Chinese boats from advancing towards Scarborough Shoal, leading to regional tensions.

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2009: As a result of Vietnam and Malaysia extending their territorial recognition of continental shelves in the Indo-Pacific region. China presents its nine-dash line map in the United Nations, declaring it “has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and the adjacent waters.” Bordering countries the disputed area, arouse into protests against Chinese’s claims. 

2011: Following the event that a ship hired by the Philippines, looking for oil and gas near the Spratly Islands is attacked and forced out of the territory by two Chinese police boats. The Philippines perform a diplomatic protest against China’s behavior and actions. 

2012: China gains control of Scarborough Shoal after confrontations between Chinese police boats and a Philippines naval vessels that cease a Chinese fishing boat to examine it,  had no progress towards ending or resolving. 

2013: The Philippines takes its territorial conflict with China to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, where a court of international legal specialists would decide upon their case.  

2014: The Philippine government protest against Chinese guard ships that force Filipino fishermen aways from Scarborough Shoal. China disregards the Philippines’ claims and protests, proclaiming its sovereignty as irrefutable. China published a paper in December that declared that the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, has no legal power over the case, as it discussed topics of sovereignty definition, not defined in the U.N Convention.

2015: The Court in the Hague pronounced in October that it has jurisdiction in about 7 of the 15 claims made by the Philippines. A hearing is carried out in November but China doesn’t attend. 

2016: The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of most of the Philippines’ demands. It declared that China has no juridical ground for claiming most of the South China Sea and instead had to worsen the regional conflict by performing the military activity and constructing artificial islands that threaten the coral reefs and vitality of the disputed waters.

2017: China increases its territorial holdings to about 72 acres of new landmass by spreading their constructions developments to Spratly Island and Paracel Island, all located in the disputed waters. 

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2018: As the United States Navy moved near the Mischief Reef in the South China Sea. The Chinese military severely stated on the radio that the US’s military navy and aircrafts  “need to leave immediately and keep far out” of China’s territory as it had violated their national sovereignty and “infringed on [their] security and [rights]” (Beech 2).   

2019: China’s military reported that two US warships were located sailing through the heated Asian waterways.

2020: The US continues to insist on the FONOPs, as China continues constructing artificial islands. Tensions of power between claimant nations and other countries have grown because of repetitive invasions occurring in the Indo-Pacific maritime frontiers. Also, the area’s fishery resources have followed the victim to the territorial dispute since fishingsupply is substantially decreasing in the South China Sea

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Presidents and world leaders that will be present in the committee for the topic of Territorial Disputes in the South China Sea:*************************************************************************These will be the presidents and leaders who will attend the committee. If the delegate wishes to be a president or leader, be it of a country, terrorist group (such as ISIS, Hezbollah, or Al-Qaeda), or a political party (such as Free Syrian army), that is not on this list please contact the presidents to take it in for consideration.

Also, some delegates might have two presidents or leaders to represent in the committee in order to stay relevant to each topic (Example: President Bashar Al Assad in topic #1 then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in topic #2), this would be under the discretion of the presidents. If you have any further questions about how the roles will be distributed please contact the presidents through the email address of the committee.*************************************************************************

Prime Minister. Shinzō Abe - JapanNguyen Phu Trong-The Socialist Republic of Vietnam.Donald J. Trump-United States of America Vladimir Putin - Russian FederationPrime Minister. Boris Jhonson - The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandXi Jinping - People’s Republic of ChinaFrank-Walter Steinmeier - The Federal Republic of GermanyJustin Trudeau - CanadaAndrés Manuel López Obrador - United Mexican States Emmanuel Macron - French RepublicKim Jong-un - Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North KoreaWin Myint - Union of BurmaRodrigo Duterte - Republic of the Philippines

Hun Sen - Kingdom of CambodiaMoon Jae-In - Republic of Korea (South Korea)Joko Widodo - The Republic of IndonesiaPrime minister. Mahathir bin Mohamad - MalaysiaSultan. Hassanal Bolkiah - Brunei DarussalamScott Morrison - Commonwealth of AustraliaTsai Ing-wen - TaiwanPrime Minister. Prayut Chan-o-cha - Kingdom of ThailandHalima Yacob - Republic of SingaporePrime Minister. Stefan Löfven - Kingdom of SwedenRam Nath Kovind - Republic of IndiaSergio Mattarella - Italian Republic

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Guiding QuestionsTerritorial disputes in the South China Sea:

1. What is each actor’s most important objective, and how can it best be achieved without jeopardizing other key interests? 

2.  What is the best policy option for each player, and for the region as a whole? 3. How do alliances impact the possible actions available to each actor? What are the

merits of these alliances?4.  What is the place of the United States or other stakeholders from outside of the

region in this dispute? Why do their positions matter? 5. What might be an effective framework for assessing territorial claim legitimacy?

How might this framework be implemented?6. What are the United States' interests in the region? How have they shaped U.S.

policy and security commitments to its allies?7. How can sovereignty of nations and freedom of navigation be protected? 

Threats to national peace and security caused by terrorist acts in the region of Syria:

1. How involved should the international community be in the Syrian crisis and in what aspects: humanitarian, political, militarily and/or financially? 

2.  With Syria controlled by several different groups in addition to a government right now, how should unity be restored and order re-established within the region? 

3.  How can the problem of impunity among government officials and lack of transparency be fixed within the region and several external governments involved in the conflict? 

GlossaryThreats to national peace and security caused by terrorist acts in the

region of Syria:

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Refugee: someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of

persecution, war or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for

reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular

social group. 

Bashar Al Assad: Current ruler of Syria, internationally recognized and supported

by the Russian Federation 

Arab Spring: A period in 2011 where both Tunisia and Egypt successfully

overthrew their president’s. Restored hope for pro-democracy Syrian advocates. 

Free Syrian Army: Loosely-knit military defectors initially numbering 50,000 in

total formerly supported by western nations circa 2017. 

Syrian Democratic Forces: A multi-ethnic armed conglomeration found primarily

in Northern Syria currently supported by western nations with the United States

continuing to train fighters in 2018. Considered by some to be a subsidiary of the

YPG.

 Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: Current leader of Turkey. A supporter of the Free Syrian

Army and against an independent/strengthened Kurdistan. 

ISIS/ISIL/Daesh: The terrorist organization founded in Syria by former Al-Qaeda

terrorists 

Kurdistan People’s Party: A militant Kurdish-nationalist group deemed to be a

terrorist organization by Turkey. Allegedly has ties to the Syrian Democratic Forces

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and other Kurdish aligned groups. 

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea:

South China Sea: A marginal sea that is in the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an

area of around 3.5 million square kilometers. Nations located around this sea

include China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and other

countries. The sea carries immense importance, considering a third of global

shipping passes through it, carrying 3 trillion USD in trade annually. It also contains

crucial fisheries for food security in Southeast Asia, as well as large oil and gas

reserves. 

Nine-dash Line: A dashed line is drawn on a 1940’s map that represents China’s

territorial claims in the South China Sea. At times, it has also been referred to as the

10-dash and 11-dash line. The area laps around a point approximately 1800km

south of Hainan Island, China’s southernmost province. 

Paracel Islands: A group of around 130 islands, reefs, banks, and other maritime

features in the South China Sea, that is controlled by the People’s Republic of

China, and also claimed by Taiwan (Republic of China) and Vietnam. The

archipelago is approximately equidistant from the coastlines of China and Vietnam.

The French colonial government of Vietnam set up a weather station on an island in

the Paracel Islands in the 1930s, Taiwanese forces landed on Woody Island, another

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island, in 1946 then abandoned it 4 years later. In 1974, the Battle of the Paracel

Islands led to China expelling the Vietnamese from the Paracel Islands. 

Spratly Islands: A disputed group of islands, islets, cays, and more than 100 reefs

in the South China Sea. It lies off the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia, and

southern Vietnam. Approximately 45 islands, cays, reefs, and shoals are occupied

and contain military structures and forces from Malaysia, Taiwan, China, the

Philippines, and Vietnam. Brunei has also claimed an exclusive economic zone in

the southeastern part of the Spratleys. 

Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ): An area of up to 200 nautical miles around a

state’s territory in which the state has the sole right to exploit resources, but must

allow the innocent passage of foreign vessels. 

Territorial Sea: A 12 nautical mile area extending from a state’s coast. A state

owns any land and resources, discovered or not, within the area. The measurement

is taken at the low watermark of the coastline. 

Claimant Countries: Countries that claim sovereignty of the South China sea

which are China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. 

Work Cited20

Threats to national peace and security caused by terrorist acts in the

region of Syria:

Al Jazeera. “US Attacks Shia Militia: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Russia, Israel React.” News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 30 Dec. 2019, www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/attacks-shia-militias-reactions-region-191230175140132.html

“Protection - UNHCR Syria.” UNHCR, www.unhcr.org/sy/protection. “Operational Portal.” Situation Syria Regional Refugee Response,

data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/syria The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Syrian Civil War.” Encyclopædia

Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 16 Dec. 2019, www.britannica.com/event/Syrian-Civil-War.

Al Jazeera. “Syria's Civil War Explained from the Beginning.” News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 14 Apr. 2018, www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/05/syria-civil-war-explained-160505084119966.html.

“Civil War in Syria | Global Conflict Tracker.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, www.cfr.org/interactive/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/civil-war-syria.

“Syria Refugee Crisis Explained.” How to Help Refugees - Aid, Relief and Donations, www.unrefugees.org/news/syria-refugee-crisis-explained/#Where%20are%20Syrians%20fleeing%20to?

“Syrian Civil War Fast Facts.” CNN, Cable News Network, 11 Oct. 2019, www.cnn.com/2013/08/27/world/meast/syria-civil-war-fast-facts/index.html.

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Territorial disputes in the South China Sea

Beech, Hannah. “China's Sea Control Is a Done Deal, 'Short of War With the U.S.'.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Sept. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/world/asia/south-china-sea-navy.html.

“China Says U.S. Criticism over South China Sea Is Slander.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 22 July 2019, www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-southchinasea/china-says-u-s-criticism-over-south-china-sea-is-slander-idUSKCN1UH0Y3.

Chubb, Andrew. “Xi Jinping and China's Maritime Policy.” Brookings, Brookings, 4 Oct. 2019, www.brookings.edu/articles/xi-jinping-and-chinas-maritime-policy/.

Cobus, Pete. “South China Sea: Conflict and Diplomacy on the High Seas.” South China Sea | Conflict and Diplomacy on the High Seas, 29 Dec. 2016, projects.voanews.com/south-china-sea/.

“How Much Trade Transits the South China Sea?” ChinaPower Project, 10 Oct. 2019, chinapower.csis.org/much-trade-transits-south-china-sea/.

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