Thalatta! Thalatta!

"Thalatta! Thalatta!" (The sea! The sea!) was the exulted call of the Greek mercenary army when they sighted the Black Sea after their long arduous retreat from Persia - in Xenophon's book 'Anabasis' (401 BCE)

TMI - Time to rename South China Sea? – Ferooze Ali

China (Taiwan), Philippines & Vietnam have similar ridiculously large claims,
bearing in mind the Filipinos once even claimed (maybe still does) the entire state of Sabah (British North Borneo) as well 

Typically, a name projects a distinct culture, identity and more importantly for land and other space resources – a connection to a certain community. Along with maps and scientific stations, it is one of the most visible markers of national presence, while territorial naming at the international level is long recognised as a strategic tool for creating new facts on the ground. [...]

... in an effort to mitigate and find middle ground in the disputed waters, there is a need for smaller countries, particularly Asean member states to include a finer strategy in its overall diplomatic approach. 

This includes the need to consider alternative names to an already entrenched South China Sea.

The seas in the disputed territory can be changed to a neutral name, which reflects a collective sharing of waters among close neighbours.

Various names have been suggested to reflect this, such as the Southern Seas or South East Asia Seas.

However, the point is to lobby and change the South China Sea into a universally acceptable name that will make any future Chinese military action be rightly perceived as intrusive and in direct violation of international waters regulations.

What else would Ferooze Ali recommend to change the South China Sea into a universally acceptable name that will make any future Chinese military action be rightly perceived as intrusive and in direct violation of international waters regulations?

UN Sea? Indian Ocean II? Maybe even the Japanese Sea, wakakaka?

In the 1960's (former, the late) President Soekarno, who was a far BIGGER megalomaniac than our Malaysian version wakakaka, insisted that what we have always known as the Indian Ocean be called the Indonesian Ocean (Samudera* Indonesia).

* ironically the word 'samudera' is an Indian word, wakakaka

Here is an article by Kompasiana on that (extract only):

Soekarno & Kapal RI Irian

Nama Samudera Indonesia pernah dipopulerkan Pemerintah Republik Indonesia zaman Bung Karno, bukan tanpa alasan, bukankah sebelum merdeka nama kepulauan Indonesia itu Hindia Belanda atau Nederlands-Indie?

Hanya saja nama Nederlands-Indie dalam bahasa Inggris ternyata Dutch East Indies. India yang pernah dikuasai Belanda ternyata hanya disebut India Timur, India aslinya ya di tanah Hindustan. Jadi nama samudera di barat selatan Indonesia itu mana yang benar? 

Mestinya nama yang diakui internasional adalah Indian Ocean atau Samudera India dan di Indonesia dulu sampai sekarang disebut Samudera Hindia, kecuali waktu tahun 1960an pada puncak kejayaan politik Sukarno. 

Akan tetapi bila orang Indonesia mau menamakan Samudera Indonesia sebagai nama lokal mengapa tidak, orang China zaman dinasti Ming, saat Laksamana Cheng Ho keliling Asia, dahulu menyebutnya dengan sebuah nama china yang artinya Lautan Barat atau Western Ocean.

I think indulging in meaningless nonsense such as mere name changing in a vain hope to effect a political and sovereignty resolution will be a fruitless and laughable venture. After all, did the name Iraq or Afghanistan or earlier, Vietnam make any future Chinese American military action be rightly perceived as intrusive and in direct violation of international waters sovereignty regulations at the respective time of occurrence of those events?

And we could easily say the same for Israel in their illegal attacks on Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Libya, Palestine and even on the high seas with regards to criminal armed piracy on the Turkish sea vessel MV Mavi Marmara.

Instead, the ASEAN littoral states of the South China Sea could do better by combining as a bloc to engage China in diplomatic negotiations over sovereignty issues in the waters around them.

But as a first step, and indeed far more importantly, they need to resolve such sovereignty issues among themselves, where Malaysia currently has territorial disputes with Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia and even Brunei.

Indeed, how can the ASEAN littoral states negotiate with China when they can't even resolve such issues among themselves?