>>49945556Here's a better reason from the chink side.
China's claim is based on historical precedent all right. It's also the strongest out of all the other claimants (except Taiwan because they're the fucking same claim). That's because in short the flips' claim is based on terra nullius (NOBODY OWNS IT SO WE OWN IT), and the gooks' claim is based on French claims (OUR MASSUHS OWNED IT BEFORE SO WE OWN IT NOW).
Here's the history lesson: Qing China was weak, but it wasn't a fucking colony unlike ASEAN gooks and flips. So what it did was that it contested ownership of the South China Sea then with the colonial powers. Obviously, it didn't get its way most of the time. But if you contest something you set historical precedent for later...
Then Chiang Kaishek came along (the bitch who lost to gommies). Before he lost, he declared that the South China Sea is China's based on Qing claims, and made the "eleven-dashed line".
Then the nips lost WWII, and because Chiang was a good little puppet the US arrange things and made the surrendering nips give the islands to China. Flips and France flip the fuck out, and the US tell them to shut the fuck up. Chiang garrisoned the fuck out of those islands.
But then Chiang lost, so the KMT chink fleet had to flee back to Taiwan. Flips and gooks seized the chance to steal some land. Gommies took over China. And the gommies said, hey we can claim this shit based off that idiot Chiang's claim. So they did, only that they made it nine dashes instead.
So China (Qing + KMT + CCP) has the oldest historical claims, is the most active occupant, and actually has legal precedent in owning the islands because the post-WWII international court gave them the islands before. It's a different government in China now than the one who was awarded the islands and did all that shit, but it's still China.
