Challenges in Defining States

A state has sovereignty, which means independence from control of its internal affairs by other states. Because the entire area of a state is managed by its national government, laws, army, and leaders, it is a good example of a formal or uniform region.

There is some disagreement about the actual number of sovereign states. This disagreement is closely tied to the history and geography of the places involved and most often involves neighboring states. Among places that test the definition of sovereignty are Korea, China, and Western Sahara (Sahrawi Republic).

Korea: One State or Two?

The Korean peninsula is divided between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North) and the Republic of Korea (South). After the United States and the former Soviet Union defeated Japan in World War II, the victors divided Korea, which had been a colony of Japan for 35 years, into two occupation zones. The Soviet Union installed a pro-Communist government in the North while a pro-U.S. government was established in the South.

North Korea invaded the South in 1950, sparking a three-year war that ended in a cease-fire. Both governments are committed to reuniting the country into one sovereign state. However, both maintain that they are the one that should exercise sovereignty over the entire Korean peninsula.

North Korea is one of the world’s poorest and most isolated countries, and since 1948 it has been governed as a dictatorship by Kim Il-sung, his son Kim Jong-il, and his grandson Kim Jong-un. Further aggravating reconciliation, North Korea has built and tested nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, even though the country lacks the ability to provide its citizens with food, electricity, and other basic needs (Figure 8-3). Public support in South Korea for reunification is declining as younger generations have no memories of a unified country and lack direct family connections to Koreans in the North.

North and South Korea

A nighttime satellite image recorded by the U.S. Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program shows the illumination of electric lights in South Korea.

Sahrawi Republic/Western Sahara: Who Is Sovereign?

The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, also known as Western Sahara, is considered by most African countries as a sovereign state. Morocco, however, claims the territory and to prove it has built a 2,700-kilometer (1,700-mile) wall around the territory to keep out rebels.

Division of Sahrawi Republic / Western Sahara

Morocco controls the western portion of the territory, and the Polisario Front controls the eastern portion.

Spain controlled the territory on the continent’s west coast between Morocco and Mauritania until withdrawing in 1976. An independent Sahrawi Republic was declared by the Polisario Front and recognized by most African countries, but Morocco and Mauritania annexed the northern and southern portions, respectively. Three years later Mauritania withdrew, and Morocco claimed the entire territory. No other state recognizes Morocco’s claim to the territory.

Morocco controls most of the populated area, but the Polisario Front operates in the vast, sparsely inhabited deserts, especially the one-fifth of the territory that lies east of Morocco’s wall .

Sahrawi Republic / Western Sahara Sand Wall

Morocco built sand walls during the 1980s to isolate Polisario Front rebels fighting for independence.

China & Taiwan: One State or Two?

Most other countries consider China (officially the People’s Republic of China) and Taiwan (officially the Republic of China) as separate and sovereign states. According to China’s government, Taiwan is not sovereign but a part of China. The government of Taiwan agrees.

The current status arises from a civil war in China during the late 1940s between the Nationalists and the Communists. After losing in 1949, Nationalist leaders fled to Taiwan, 200 kilometers (125 miles) off the Chinese coast, and proclaimed that they were still the legitimate rulers of the entire country of China. Until some future occasion when they could defeat the Communists and recapture all of China, the Nationalists argued, at least they could continue to govern one island of the country.

The United States had supported the Nationalists during the civil war, so many Americans opposed acknowledging that China was firmly under the control of the Communists. Consequently, the United States continued to regard the Nationalists as the official government of China until the 1970s, when U.S. policy finally changed, and the United Nations voted to transfer China’s seat from the Nationalists to the Communists.

Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands: Conflicting Claims

The People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, and Japan all claim sovereignty over several small uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. These islands are known as Diaoyu in China, Diaoyutai in Taiwan, and Senkaku in Japan (Figure 8-6). The largest of five islands is only 4.32 square kilometers (1.7 square miles) (Figure 8-7). The collection also includes three rock outcroppings, the smallest of which is only 800 square meters (8,600 square feet).

Disputed Islands

The Senkaku/Diaoyu islands are all claimed by China, Taiwan, and Japan.

Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands

Japan has controlled the islands since 1895, except between 1945 and 1972, when the United States administered them after defeating Japan in World War II. China and Taiwan claim that the islands historically belonged to China until the Japanese government illegally seized them in 1895. Japan’s position is that China did not state that it had sovereignty over the uninhabited islands back in 1895, when Japan claimed them. To bolster their claims, China and Japan have both established air defense zones in the East China Sea with conflicting boundaries.

The situation is bigger than the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. China has been expanding their footprint in the South China Sea area.

Pause & Reflect 8.1.2

Other than military action, how might the sovereignty of these disputed territories be settled?