CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VIII (1) ContemporaryEurasia81 | Page 76

STRATEGIES ON TERRITORIAL ACQUISITION- A CASE STUDY ON THE PEDRA …
CONFLICT RESOLUTION
YULONG DAI
STRATEGIES ON TERRITORIAL ACQUISITION- A CASE
STUDY ON THE PEDRA BRANCA DISPUTE
Abstract: In May 2008, the International Court of Justice announced the
decision of the case concerning disputes over the sovereignty of Pedra
Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge. The two disputed islands,
Pedra Branca and South Ledge, were respectively awarded to Singapore
and Malaysia while South Ledge remained undecided. Singapore’s size
is comparatively tinier than Malaysia. Its winning of sovereignty over
Pedra Branca has manifested a possibility of how a smaller and weaker
country could peacefully acquire a disputed territory from its stronger
opponent while maintaining amicable relations with it. Singapore has
reached the maximization of its interest though it was not awarded all
the disputed islets by the Court. This article aims to examine these four
strategies adopted by Singapore and the dynamics of how they helped
promote Singapore’s success.
Keywords: Strategy, Territorial Acquisition, Pedra Branca Dispute
Background
In contemporary international society, it is generally more acceptable
and necessary that territorial disputes be resolved in a comparatively
peaceful way rather than settled with violence. As a rational decision maker
who is willing to maximize its interests, any claimant in a territorial dispute
should carefully balance its interest in the disputed territory as well as its
relations with the opponent. In many cases, claimants are deeply
interdependent, sharing common interests in fields such as economic
development, security cooperation, common foreign policies, etc. It is
especially necessary that claimants whose power is significantly weaker than
its opponent in a territorial dispute should act in a peaceful way.
Similar to territorial disputes in other developing regions, the dispute
of Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge between Singapore and
Malaysia was caused by obscure territorial divisions implemented by
European colonial powers. Due to the lack of advanced technologies in
exploring unknown lands and managing islets, Great Britain failed to carry
out the division of these three maritime features in the region of the Malacca
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