HAIKOU, China — Recently I was invited to address a seminar concerning South China Sea issues. I set out with the proposition that the notion of sovereignty, at least in the modern sense, is intricately related to the concept and practice of nation-states. Most commentators, in turn, trace the notion of nation-states to the Treaties of Westphalia in the aftermath of Europe's Thirty Years' War in the middle of the 17th century.

Before that, most inhabitants of territories, at least in large parts of Europe, would swear their allegiance to the persons of the territorial rulers, be they kings, emperors, dukes or bishops. The territories, the inhabitants and the properties on those territories were in essence treated as the personal chattels of the rulers, sometimes to be traded or exchanged by these rulers at will. So when the ruler concerned died in combat, for example, his or her personal 'sovereignty' over the kingdom or empire or dukedom or bishopric was pretty much up for grabs by the victor or conqueror, together with the inhabitants and the properties on those territories. There were notable but rare exceptions, such as the cantons of Switzerland or the coastal cities of the Hanseatic League along the Baltic coast and North Sea, where self-rule by inhabitants was prevalent.