The nine-dotted line, U-shape line, or nine-dash map (Chinese: 南海九段线; Vietnamese: Đường lưỡi bò; literally: "ox's tongue line") is an illegal line used by the government of the People's Republic of China. Dr. Termsak Chalermpalanupap, Assistant Director for Program Coordination and External Relations of the ASEAN Secretariat, said: “I don’t think that the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) recognizes history as the basis to make sovereignty claims”. This view that history is not the basis for soverignty claim over waters is agreed by Prof. Peter Dutton from the US Naval War College who commented that “The jurisdiction over waters does not have connection to history. It must observe the UNCLOS”. He did not agree with the explanation of China of the meaning of the 9-dotted line related to history. Dr. Dutton further stressed that using history to explain sovereignty erodes the rules of the UNCLOS.[1] It is understood that China ratified the UNCLOS in 1982. Maritime researcher Carl Thayer, Emeritus Professor of Politics of the University of New South Wales, said that Chinese scholars using historical heritage to explain its claim of sovereignty shows the lack of legal foundation under the international law for the claim.Caitlyn Antrim, Executive Director, Rule of Law Committee for the Oceans of the USA, commented that "The U-shaped line has no ground under the international law because [the] historical basis is very weak". She added "I don’t understand what China claims for in that U-shaped line. If they claim sovereignty over islands inside that line, the question is whether they are able to prove their sovereignty over these islands. If China claimed sovereignty over these islands 500 years ago and then they did not perform their sovereignty, their claim of sovereignty becomes very weak. For uninhabited islands, they can only claim territorial seas, not exclusive economic zones (EEZ) from the islands” [1] 1."International scholars discuss maritime security in the East Sea". 22 June 2011.