The Republic of Morac-Songhrati-Meads is the fictional micronation in the Spratly Islands established by British naval captain James George Meads in 1877, according to the quixotic claims of a confidence man, Morton F. Meads.
The Republic of Morac-Songhrati-Meads is the fictional micronation in the Spratly Islands established by British naval captain James George Meads in 1877, according to the quixotic claims of a confidence man, Morton F. Meads.
Morton Meads was a U.S. Army Soldier, discharged in Manila in 1946, for illegally engaging in various personal business ventures, mainly in the re-sale of army surplus. [1]
Meads' tall tales of his so-called birthright "Kingdom of Humanity" were captured in the local Philippine newspapers, which then caught the attention of the local Philippine military authorities. Meads was later arrested on criminal and civil charges for his business ventures, although these charges were later dropped. Regardless, Meads' fanciful storytelling sparked the motivation of powerful Filipino businessmen, such as Tomas Coloma, to race towards claiming the South China Sea Islands for the Philippines, such as the Spratlys. [2]
The republic's history begins with Morton Meads' supposed British forebear, Captain James George Meads, who laid claim to the Spratly Islands in 1877. Captain Meads was exploring the South China Sea on the Modeste and laid claim to the islands and took the name King James I. [3] Descendants of Meads have continued to posit legitimacy over the islands, and ownership of the islands' resources. [4] [5]
A rival entity called the "Kingdom of Humanity" formed in 1914[ citation needed ] under the leadership of Franklin M. Meads, the son of James George. The two rival factions continued their claim on the islands during World War II, when they were occupied by Japanese troops [ citation needed ]. Franklin died in 1945, and his son Josiah took over leadership [ citation needed ]; Josiah himself died soon after. His son, Morton F. Meads, was to succeed but was deemed too young. [6]
The Kingdom faded into obscurity over the next decade until 1972[ citation needed ], when the then-ruling Morton Meads unsuccessfully petitioned the United Nations, Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China, and the Philippines to recognise the Kingdom and its claims. [6] Later that year, the remainder of the Kingdom's governing body drowned in a shipwreck off the coast of Philippines during Typhoon Ora, except for Meads. [3]
The Kingdom reappeared in 1985 [ citation needed ] when Meads sued the United States and others for $25 billion, claiming "unfair competition, harassment, [and] sabotage." The case was not heard. [7]
The Spratly Islands are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed of islands, islets, cays, and more than 100 reefs, sometimes grouped in submerged old atolls, the archipelago lies off the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia, and southern Vietnam. Named after the 19th-century British whaling captain Richard Spratly who sighted Spratly Island in 1843, the islands contain less than 2 km2 of naturally occurring land area, which is spread over an area of more than 425,000 km2 (164,000 sq mi).
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Philippines, and in the south by Borneo, eastern Sumatra and the Bangka Belitung Islands, encompassing an area of around 3,500,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi). It communicates with the East China Sea via the Taiwan Strait, the Philippine Sea via the Luzon Strait, the Sulu Sea via the straits around Palawan, and the Java Sea via the Karimata and Bangka Straits. The Gulf of Thailand and the Gulf of Tonkin are part of the South China Sea.
West York Island, also known as Likas Island, and several other names. With an area of 18.6 hectares, it is the third largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands, and the second largest of the Philippine-occupied islands. It is 530 yards (485 m) wide, 330 yards (302 m) long, and its highest elevation is 30 feet (9 m).
Southwest Cay, also known as Vietnamese: Đảo Song Tử Tây; Pugad Island ; Mandarin Chinese: 南子島/南子岛; pinyin: Nánzi Dǎo, is an island on the northwestern edge of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. It is part of the atoll North Danger Reef, and just 1.75 miles (2.82 km) southwest of Northeast Cay. With an area of 12 hectares, it is the sixth largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands, and the second largest of the Vietnamese-occupied islands. Southwest Cay has the archipelago's highest point, at 4 meters above sea level. It was once a breeding place for birds, and was covered with trees and guano; export of guano had been carried out "on a considerable scale".
Taiping Island, also known as Itu Aba, and various other names, is the largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The island is elliptical in shape being 1.4 kilometres (0.87 mi) in length and 0.4 kilometres (0.25 mi) in width, with an area of 46 hectares. It is located on the northern edge of the Tizard Bank. The runway of the Taiping Island Airport is easily the most prominent feature on the island, running its entire length.
Scarborough Shoal, also known as Panacot,Bajo de Masinloc, Huangyan Island, Minzhu Jiao, and Panatag Shoal, are two skerries between Macclesfield Bank to the west and Luzon to the east. Luzon is 220 kilometres (119 nmi) away and the nearest landmass. The atoll is a disputed territory claimed by the Republic of the Philippines through the Treaty of Washington in 1900 via the 1734 Velarde map, as well as by the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan). The atolls' status is often discussed in conjunction with other territorial disputes in the South China Sea, such as those involving the Spratly Islands and the 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff. In 2013, the Philippines initiated arbitration against China under UNCLOS. In 2016, the tribunal ruled that China's historic title within the nine-dash line was invalid but did not rule on sovereignty.
Kalayaan, officially the Municipality of Kalayaan, is a 5th class municipality under the jurisdiction of the province of Palawan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 193 people making it the least populated town in the Philippines and in Palawan.
Thitu Island, also known as Pag-asa Island ; Đảo Thị Tứ ; Zhongye Dao, having an area of 37.2 hectares, it is the second largest of the naturally occurring island in Spratly Islands. It lies about 500 kilometers (310 mi) west of Puerto Princesa. Its neighbors are the North Danger Reef to the north, Subi Reef to the west, and the Loaita and Tizard Banks to the south. As the poblacion of the Kalayaan municipality of Palawan province in the Philippines, it also administers nearly a dozen other islets, cays and reefs in the Spratly Islands. The island is 270 nautical miles west from Palawan, Philippines.
Philippines and the Spratly Islands – this article discusses the policies, activities and history of the Republic of the Philippines in the Spratly Islands from the Philippine perspective. Non-Philippine viewpoints regarding Philippine occupation of several islands are currently not included in this article.
The Free Territory of Freedomland was a micronation that covered the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea from 1956 to 1974. It was established by Tomás Cloma.
The Malaysia–Philippines border is a maritime boundary located in the South China, Sulu and Celebes Seas. It separates the Malaysian state of Sabah, which is on the island of Borneo, and the Sulu Islands of the southern Philippines.
The Spratly Islands dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute among Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam concerning "ownership" of the Spratly Islands, a group of islands and associated "maritime features" located in the South China Sea. The dispute is characterized by diplomatic stalemate and the employment of military pressure techniques in the advancement of national territorial claims. All except Brunei occupy some of the maritime features.
Territorial disputes in the South China Sea involve conflicting island and maritime claims in the South China Sea made by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, the People's Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan, and Vietnam. The disputes involve the islands, reefs, banks, and other features of the region, including the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, Scarborough Shoal, and various boundaries in the Gulf of Tonkin. The waters near the Indonesian Natuna Islands, which some regard as geographically part of the South China Sea, are disputed as well.
Bilateral relations between China and the Philippines had significantly progressed since the 1990s, peaking during the Philippine presidencies of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Rodrigo Duterte. However, relations deteriorated due to territorial disputes in the South China Sea, particularly since the 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff; in 2013, the Philippine government under President Benigno Aquino III in 2013 filed an arbitration case against China over China's maritime claims. The policy of current Philippine president Bongbong Marcos aims for distancing relations between the Philippines and China in favor of the country's relationship with the United States. The current policy of the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party aims for greater influence over the Philippines, and the region in general, while combating American influence.
The Philippines–Vietnam relations refers to the bilateral relations of the Republic of the Philippines and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Since the end of the Cold War, relations between the two countries have warmed significantly. Vietnam is sometimes referred to as the only communist military ally of the Philippines, especially after Vietnam joined ASEAN in 1995. Both nations have cooperated in the fields of education, tourism, agriculture, aquaculture, trade, and defense. Additionally, both nations have similar positions on the South China Sea issue, with Vietnam backing the Philippine victory in the ICC against China, and the Philippines backing to a certain extent the claim of Vietnam in the Paracels. Both nations have overlapping claims in the Spratlys, but have never made military confrontations as both view each other as diplomatic allies and ASEAN brethren.
The South China Sea Arbitration was an arbitration case brought by the Republic of the Philippines against the People's Republic of China (PRC) under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea concerning certain issues in the South China Sea, including the nine-dash line introduced by the mainland-based Republic of China since as early as 1947. A tribunal of arbitrators appointed the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) as the registry for the proceedings.
Sabina Shoal, also known as Bãi Sa Bin ; Escoda Shoal ; Xianbin Jiao, is a disputed low-tide elevation atoll located in the northeast of Dangerous Ground in the Spratly Islands, South China Sea.
The article covers events relevant to the ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Even before the common era, maritime trading networks had already been established in the high seas of the region. Prior to World War II, China, France, and Japan disputed over the Paracel and Spratly Islands. After the war, Brunei, Malaysia, the People's Republic of China, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam became involved in the conflict.
The exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, per the mandate of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), consists of four subzones. It covers 2,263,816 square kilometers (874,064 sq mi) of sea. The Philippines has 7,641 islands comprising the Philippine archipelago. The zone's coordinates are between 116° 40', and 126° 34' E longitude and 4° 40' and 21° 10' N latitude. It is bordered by the Philippine Sea to the east and north, the South China Sea to the west, and the Celebes Sea to the south.
Vietnam claims an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 1,395,096 km2 (538,650 sq mi) with 200 nautical miles from its shores.
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