The Real Meaning of "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors"
In his poem, Mending Wall, Robert Frost captured the adage of a New Hampshire neighbor who observed -
Good fences make good neighbors.
- Robert Frost
While this may be true in cases where boundary lines are valid and undisputed, fences can make decidedly worse neighbors when the fence lines are in question. The sovereign boundaries and borders of nations, in particular, make for hotly contested claims if the official lines are vague or questioned.
Today, the most vivid example is found in the South China Sea, where the People’s Republic of China (PRC) asserts its sole control over waters within its self-proclaimed Nine-Dash-Line, an arbitrary line declared by the PRC to be its exclusive territory. Not surprisingly, this declaration is vigorously opposed by the Philippines, Viet Nam, Brunei and Australia.
This imaginary fence, erected by the PRC to defend unilateral territorial claims in international waters, redraws traditionally defined territorial boundary of the PRC as prescribed by international law.
This bitter argument reinforces the indispensable need for accurate and consistent dividing lines determined by an actual survey. It is just one compelling reason why surveying remains an essential live science when national boundaries are in dispute.
Much is at stake in such contests; we can imagine the surveyor’s science will be called upon in another swirling international controversy centered upon the polar regions, where competing territorial claims of many nations are now heating up. In the Antarctic, Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom all claim territory.
After nearly 20 years of a major mapping effort, only about 20 percent of Antarctica has been accurately mapped using aerial photographs and ground surveys. Encompassing nearly 14.3 million square kilometers (5.5 million square miles), Antarctica still presents a formidable mapping task.
The competition for strategic resources in the Antarctic continent and its coastal areas (which hold substantial deposits of copper, gold, manganese, diamonds, crude oil and coal) means that territorial boundaries will become increasingly important.
In this sense, the “good fence” must be seen as valid, not simply well-built. Surveying science will become more, not less, important in the future of the continent and in sovereign relations and territorial claim resolution.