India’s Stakes in South China Sea, by Vijay Sakhuja

It is true that the current regional power balance is greatly in favour of China and its economic power swamps many Asia Pacific countries including Japan, India and South Korea. China is capitalizing on its power potential and the grammar and language of recent Chinese announcements, articulations and actions relating to sovereignty contestations and territorial disputes and its penchant for intimidating...

08/12/2011

Russia and the South China Sea issue: In search of a problem-solving approach, by Evgeny Kanaev

The South China Sea has traditionally been an area where the key strategic interests of the most influential Asia-Pacific powers are focused and intertwined. Currently, the scenario that the issue will rise in the priorities of these powers and acquire a global dimension looks highly probable. Along with these developments, regional multilateral dialogue platforms – the way they have been tackling...

08/12/2011

ASEAN and the Disputes in the South China Sea, by Ha Anh Tuan

Introduction The signing between ASEAN and China of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in 2002 ironically only kept the disputes in the region relatively quiet for five years. Since 2007, tensions between claimant states in the South China Sea (SCS) began to re-emerge and intensify in every aspect, with China being at the centre of almost all incidents. Since...

08/12/2011

Weekly News 12 - 19/12

- ( Diplomat 16/12 )  Obama has China on Back Foot : Barack Obama has plenty of opportunities through the Asia-Pacific to revive the U.S. economy. The question is whether he will seize them;  Can China Handle America’s Return?: The United States’ decision to “pivot” back to the Asia-Pacific is welcome among its allies. But what about its most assertive rising power? - ( Economist 21/11 )  China...

12/12/2011

Recent events in the South China Sea and China-Vietnam Relations: Analysed Through the Lens of Chinese Media and Official Reports, by Li Jianwei and Chen Pingping

Introduction The elapsed time of 2011 has seen exciting events in the China-Vietnam relations. Although the overall fraternal bilateral relations have been recognized and mutual efforts have been contributed to promoting the relations to reach a strategic level, events in regard to the South China Sea in May and June were observed to have brought tension to bilateral relations. Both governments...

14/12/2011

Why China absolutely needs the South China Sea for itself alone:a prospective and independent view from outside, by Daniel Schaeffer

Mister president, ladies and gentlemen, All my thanks to the organisers of this 3rd international workshop on “The South China Sea: Cooperation for Regional Security and Development” for inviting me to express myself on the following topic: "Why China absolutely needs the South China sea for itself alone” This presentation is a prospective view and a completely independent one. I stress upon...

14/12/2011

South China Sea Dispute: Implications of Recent Developments and Prospects for Coming Future, by Tran Truong Thuy

The paper will examine the developments in the South China Sea in recent years, especially the situation in the last 2 years. The first part of the paper will assess the overall policy of claimant states with regard to the South China Sea, especially that of China - the most powerful country that has set the tone of the disputes in the South China Sea and that holds the key for any settlement envisioned....

14/12/2011

Intra-ASEAN Dynamics and the South China Sea Dispute: Implications for the DoC/CoC Process and ZoPFFC Proposal, by Ian Storey

In addition to China’s intransigence, conflict management and a resolution of the South China Sea dispute has been hindered by problems of inter-ASEAN dynamics, and especially the issue of consensus. Because the South China Sea is vital to the economic and food security prospects of Southeast Asia, ASEAN member states have a strongly vested interest in stability and a peaceful settlement of the dispute....

14/12/2011

Why the East Sea became the South China Sea?

The follow-up article by researcher Nguyen Dinh Dau explains why the East Sea, from the name Giao Chi (Jiaozhi) Sea in the 14th century, was mistakenly noted by Western people as the South China Sea.

17/12/2011

From the Giao Chi sea to the U-shape line

China has intentionally taken unfair advantage of the name South China Sea (the way Western people call the East Sea) to make misunderstandings that nearly the entire East Sea belongs to China’s sovereignty.

17/12/2011