Worries about conflict resumption in the Bay of Bengal following years of peace

The Bay of Bengal is confronting a real test in the face of threats to natural resources, following worries of conflict resumption in the region, after China attempted to extend its influence over the Gulf by annexing additional parts to it through illegal claims in the South China Sea, by building islands and having a military presence there by establishing a military base and constructing an artificial island in a region shared between Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

Previously, Maritime disputes in the region had been resolved under maritime law, after the Government of Bangladesh brought two cases before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in 2009, both of which were settled by the International Tribunal in 2012 and 2014, opening the door to Bangladesh’s enormous potential in the sea and offering many job opportunities, ranging from the extraction of oil, gas and other mineral resources from the sea to food security, fishing, passenger and cargo transportation, tourism and maritime security, to achieve an integrated economic model centered on the so-called “blue economy”.

According to maritime law, a country is entitled to 12 nautical miles from the territorial sea and up to 200 nautical miles from the economic monopoly of all kinds of animal and non-animal resources.