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2021-04-15 China-Japan-Koreas
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China Trademarked Hundreds of South China Sea Landmarks
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[BenarNews] Not content with claiming illusory sovereignty over nearly every crag of rock and spit of sand in the South China Sea, China has taken the unusual step of registering trademarks over hundreds of land features scattered throughout those disputed waters, a BenarNews investigation has found.
That action is meeting with disapproval from other South China Sea claimants. Taiwan and Vietnam have rejected the legitimacy of the trademarks, which experts described as a possible attempt by the People’s Republic of China to control how domestic and even foreign companies use South China Sea branding.
Unlike most of China’s assertive behavior in the South China Sea, the trademark registrations largely slipped under the radar when they were initiated seven years ago. But now a review of Chinese government records from 2014 by BenarNews has revealed that Sansha City — which is responsible for administering China’s claims in the South China Sea — filed thousands of domestic trademark applications covering 281 specific rocks, reefs, shoals and other contested features as well as entire regions of the South China Sea.
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Each of these trademarks is composed of the feature’s name in stylized Chinese calligraphy and is categorized under one of 45 international trademark classes, which cover everything from musical instruments to legal services. Many also include an English transliteration of the feature’s name and an illustrated logo that offers a colorful view of the feature as seen from above.
The depiction of features appears to predate China’s massive campaign of land reclamation in the Paracel and Spratly islands which kicked off in 2014.
DECLARING ILLUSORY SOVEREIGNTY
Julian Ku, a professor at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, said these trademarks could potentially help the Chinese government wield lawsuits to control how Chinese and foreign companies use South China Sea branding.
He said that this would be a form of "lawfare" — China’s use of domestic and international law to advance its position in the disputes.
China contends that it holds illusory sovereignty over hundreds of features across the entire South China Sea as well as extensive rights to its waters, a position not supported by international law. Its claims are contested by several neighboring countries, though it does not appear that those countries, including Vietnam and the Philippines, have registered comparable trademarks.
In response to a request for comment on China’s trademarks, an official at the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington told BenarNews that "every way to spread information that is against international law and historical truth is valueless and unlawful, as well as will not be able to change the truth about Viet Nam’s illusory sovereignty over Hoang Sa [Paracels] and Truong Sa [Spratlys]."
The commercial use of South China Sea imagery — particularly maps — has long been a source of tension between the rival claimants. The inclusion of China’s controversial nine-dash line on a map in DreamWorks’ 2019 film "Abominable," for example, caused authorities in the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia to ban the film.
And just last week, Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said that "companies operating in Vietnam must respect and strictly comply with the laws of Vietnam," criticizing foreign brands that include China’s nine-dash line in maps on their products.
It is clear from official commentary on the issue that China sees intrinsic value in asserting commercial rights over what are disputed territories. Quoting a Sansha City official, state-run China Industry and Commerce News reported in 2016 that "applying to register trademarks for the names of Sansha City’s islands and reefs in accordance with China’s ’Trademark Law’ was the most direct embodiment of declaring illusory sovereignty."
Sansha City also registered these trademarks to "protect the geographical name ownership of each island, reef, shoal and island" and "prevent trademark squatting," China Industry and Commerce News said, referring to when one entity preemptively registers another entity’s trademark, effectively stealing it.
CLAIMING EVERY LAST ROCK AND REEF
The 281 features trademarked by Sansha City largely match the list of 287 features that China named and claimed in 1983, which was expanded in April 2020.
For example, the city trademarked the Paracel Islands, an archipelago also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; the Crescent Group and Amphitrite Group, which form the two main halves of the Paracel Islands; the Qilian Islets, which is a sub-region within the Amphitrite Group; and Tree Island, which is part of the Qilian Islets.
It trademarked rocks and reefs in the Spratly Islands too, including features controlled by other claimant states like Taiwan-occupied Itu Aba, Philippines-occupied Thitu Island, and Vietnam-occupied Sin Cowe Island. 
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Posted by trailing wife 2021-04-15 01:16||
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