The post-war regional order. It is clear that increased maritime power projection in the SCS, from the Chinese in particular, has upset regional stability, and this is likely to continue. China's strategic reach into the South China Sea has obvious and profound implications for three sets of international actors: (1) the littoral Southeast Asian states (Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines); (2) major maritime countries heavily dependent on the sea lanes through the South China Sea (including Japan, Korea, and The area marked with a blue line is based on the UNCLOS 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) relating to each countrys claims and the islands marked in green are the ones over which sovereignty is disputed. In practice, Thailand may be neutral in the regions great power fissures into the next decade. European access to Asia will be through Beijing. Marcos Jr. had previously said his country would pursue oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea even without a deal with China, which claims almost all of the 1.3 million square mile South . Great Power Politics in the South China Sea - Stratfor . The United States needs to maintain a difficult balancing act, supporting the democratic aspirations of the Thai people while remaining a security and economic partner of choice for the elites and armed forces. The Strategic Importance of the South China Sea - LinkedIn Douglas R. Bush, Deterring a Cross-Strait Conflict: Beijing's Assessment of Evolving U.S. Strategy, Rethinking Humanitarian Aid: A Conversation with Michelle Nunn, President and CEO of CARE USA, The South China Sea Some Fundamental Strategic Principles, Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy, Diversity and Leadership in International Affairs Project, Energy Security and Climate Change Program. China has shown the most considerable increase in projection of power from all the states surrounding the SCS. The South China Sea: What's Really at Issue Strategic Culture . Diplomatic, informational, legal, and economic responses are currently underrepresented in U.S. China policy, and their incorporation into the policy toolkit will be important for successfully dissuading China over the long-term. The South China Sea is not only economically important for Malaysia as a maritime nation, but it is also as important from the perspective of national security. The United States emerged from World War II as a resident great power in East Asia. South China Sea is also strategically important due to the rising competition between China, Vietnam, Philippine and the US for military supremacy in the Asia-Pacific region. South China Sea Dispute - History, Causes & Consequences for UPSC China, for example, has asserted a maritime claim to a large majority of the South China Sea that is not consistent with international law. The South China Sea is one of the most important trade pathways in the world. It remains entirely plausible that any Chinese strategy could have a long term goal of possessing the power to deny US or western warships access to the SCS, with China largely laying claim to most of the area as it's own waters. As sovereignty over the SCS involves Chinas economic, energy and national security interests it is highly likely that the increased projection of maritime power will continue. To this end, the new administration should perform an early, top-down, and thorough strategic review to enable greater consistency and effectiveness in U.S. South China Sea policy. The South China Sea has become important to the US because of China's challenge to the liberal rules-based order that America has promoted since the Pacific war. Report on U.S.-China Strategic Competition in South and East China Seas Therefore, the US plays a key role in influencing the resolution of the SCS disputes. In 2012, Vietnam and the Philippines sought to consolidate their partnership and alliance with the US in order to enhance their strategic position over SCS disputes. Report US still mired in a 'Cold War' mindset, but the tide's turning, The West is misreading Chinas Party Congress at the peril of world stability, Can Foreign Investors still have Good Reasons to be Optimistic about China? The South China Sea is a core interest of both Vietnam and China. "First, South China Sea is important for the strategic patrol of Chinese SSBN [nuclear ballistic missile submarine], which needs to enter west Pacific Ocean for its nuclear deterrence against the US," he explained. Pexels India-China Indo-Pacific South China Sea Signalling is important international relations. The South China Sea (SCS) has great strategic and economic significance in the contemporary international politico-security environment. director of the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative at Peking . In other words, his primary concern is that the rivalry over the South China Sea could derail Beijing's strong strategic focus on the Taiwan issue.25 Academic perspectives on the South China Sea are important and may actually be quite influential. As the new administration sets out to revamp U.S. strategy in the South China Sea, it should keep the following guidelines in mind: Although Chinese cooperation is necessary to address some regional and global issuessuch as North Koreas belligerent behavior and climate changethe United States should not be held hostage by concerns that a more robust deterrence strategy will thwart bilateral cooperation. Many of these countries suffer from corruption and lack for effective rule of law. Giving ground on vital interests in Asia will not encourage greater cooperation on global issues. These straws-in-the-wind gained strategic context because the PRC had long published official maps showing a boundary encompassing almost the entire South China Sea the nine-dash line.. But the South China Sea has been dangerously overfished. The U.S. military used Utapao for refueling efforts during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s, as well as for multinational relief efforts after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and April 2015 Nepal earthquake., The U.S.-Thai alliance has also served as a platform for important training exercises. Importantly, the countries of maritime Southeast Asia are not aligning only with the United States, but with a grouping of external states concerned with the nature of Chinas rise. All Rights Reserved. Any such assertion must rest on an understanding that critical U.S. national interests, including both economic and security interests, are at stake and at risk. In addition, tensions have been raised with the Philippines after assertive Chinese naval patrols which they described as aggressive action. Successful capacity building efforts will allow Southeast Asian states to better help themselves, bolstering deterrence against low-level Chinese coercion and allowing the U.S. military to focus more on deterring high-level contingencies. In the past two weeks, Filipino . Generally, oil and minerals move north, and food and manufactured goods move south. It is highly likely that China will continue to upset regional stability in the SCS to expand its own sphere of influence. It is one in which China dominates the South China Sea from the north; the United States and its partners dominate the eastern and western edges of the sea; and the bulk of continental Southeast Asian states (Thailand, Cambodia and Laos) are either neutral or aligned more closely with China. Historically, Taiwan's pivotal location off the China coast and between Northeast and Southeast Asia has served a variety of strategic purposes for regional powers, both offensive and defensive. Yet, it was and is all of that. How Much Oil and Gas Is Contained in the South China Sea? Utapao has been suggested as a permanent Southeast Asian Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) hub. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the South China Sea dispute and to analyze why the dispute has yet to escalate, as well as the strategic importance of the South China Sea dispute to international trade. Australia and Vietnam established a Comprehensive Partnership in 2009 and agreed to expand it in 2015. 1) Islands are much more strategically valuable. Expanding U.S. access to Vietnamese facilities as described above could eventually render access to Thai facilities somewhat redundant, further weakening the institutional support for the alliance in the United States. Strategic. (PDF) China's Strategy in the South China Sea - ResearchGate China has adopted an increasingly assertive posture towards its own claims by elevating it to a core interest, strengthening its fishery law enforcement and building civilian and military facilities in the disputed islands and waters. Persistent American military presence at the eastern, southern and western points of the compassespecially when combined with regional states advancing ISR capabilities, for which the United States is providing investmentwould enable the United States to respond rapidly to incidents in disputed island chains or to Chinese attacks on U.S. and allied naval and air assets or on commercial shipping. The lifting of the arms embargo also opens the door to other forms of U.S.-Vietnam security cooperation. The result has been to heighten tensions and allow Chinese forces to more easily project military power across the region. These same sea-lanes are a vital military artery as the U.S. Final Thoughts & Looking Towards the Future. '3 reasons' China tries to control South China Sea - Anadolu Ajans It threatens the sovereignty of many nations and endangers the prosperity of the world. China tries to control the waters by using fishing vessels that are part of the Chinese maritime militia, coast guard ships, and naval vessels to harass other countries boats and deny access to this key area. Not only Vietnam is the strongest opponent of the Chinese nine-dash line claim in the region, Vietnam's sustained economic growth has pushed it to emerge as an important player in the South East Asia, which China perceives is not in its interests. China, Russia and the Munich Security Conference. Guidelines for a South China Sea Strategy. Post-Mao China, with the emergence of Deng Xiaoping as paramount leader, became a major constructive presence dedicated to economic development fueled by opening the Middle Kingdom to the region and the world. Thailand, of course, has been an important security partner for the United States. The U.S.-Thai relationship has suffered since the 2006 coup that overthrew Thaksin Shinawatra and especially since the latest coup, which saw the military take control in 2014 and stubbornly cling to power. Total fish stocks have been depleted by 70 to 95 percent since the 1950s. Instead, perceptions of weakness may encourage leaders in Beijing to embrace more assertive behavior. This access will allow for more frequent, more sustained flights over the South China Sea, including over the disputed Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal. However, there were a number of reasons to conclude that the line was no cartographic anomaly; it was an official indication of Beijings contention that the sovereign territory of China included the South China Sea. Why Is the South China Sea Important? - Money Morning According to the U.S. State Department, it has been estimated that China is effectively blocking the development of $2.5 trillion worth of oil and gas resources in the South China Sea. PDF Countries South China Sea Overview - Energy Information Administration - Interview with Mei Gechlik, Pelosi's visit to Taiwan Spiking Tensions Between the U.S. and China: an interview with Andrew K.P. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. The reaction of the Chinese Foreign Minister was incendiary and revealing. Should those ties continue to expand, moreover, the United States may find that it has greater flexibility in dealing with a vexing regional ally: Thailand. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW More than 50% of world trade passes through the Strait of Malacca, the Sunda Strait and Lombok Strait over the islands and waters of the South China Sea. SCSSAP - Strategic Action Programme Implementation - Home The strategic importance of the South China Sea cannot be overstated. China's New Pressure on Taiwan in the South China Sea Unfortunately, the allies now lack a shared strategic outlook, thus reducing the impetus to overcome recent bilateral political hurdles. Even then, the countrys division between royalists and red-shirts will likely endure. World. Journals and books. Current developments in the South China Sea must be understood against the backdrop of recent history. February 27, 2023. Chinas claims over the legal status and maritime rights of the 9 dash line remain ambiguous and outside of UN recognised EEZ claims. South China Sea, Dispute, Map, Countries, Strategic Importance The United States needs to consider a wider variety of non-military responses to Chinas efforts to control the South China Sea, and more effectively build a local coalition to support these responses. The geopolitical message was unmistakable: Western expectations that China was transitioning toward political democracy were entirely illusory. Meanwhile, Japan is providing ten new multi-role vessels to the Philippine Coast Guard; Manila is also interested in procuring used P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft from Tokyo. f) . South China Sea is a strategic sea lane is significance for connectivity, navigation, trade and resources is a global hotspot as a potential flashpoint. or join us on Facebook. Over the longer term, American defense contractors may have their sights set on sales of fighter aircraft and attack helicopters. 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Vietnam and the Philippines have also attempted to form a strategic alliance with Japan in their struggle with China in the SCS. A new arrangement for U.S. naval access to Cam Ranh Bay may well be in the offing. Currently, President Xi Jinping makes frequent references to Chinas possession of the South China Sea since ancient times an assertion that lacks any validity historically or legally. In recent years, U.S. military planners have shifted their focus from counterterrorism, low intensity conflict to great power, high intensity threats. See Media Page for more interview, contact, and citation details. Besides, more than half of the world's fishing vessels pass through the SCS. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. U.S. leaders should not be afraid of tension in the U.S.-China relationship. 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The South China Sea, or South East Asian Sea, is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean.It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luzon, Mindoro and Palawan), and in the south by Borneo, eastern Sumatra and the Bangka Belitung Islands . With a maturing coast guard, navy and air force, Vietnam will become an increasingly prickly foe. China has shown it is willing to accept substantial risk to achieve its ends, and has engaged in outright coercion against weaker neighbors like the Philippines and Vietnam. Chinese warplane intercepts US Navy plane over South China Sea This new strategic map of Southeast Asia actually began to take shape during the Bush administration, whichinitially launchedthe effort to move beyond Americas traditional hub-and-spokes alliance model in the Asia-Pacific. Anti-China alliance coalescing in South China Sea - Asia Times Unfortunately, some countries fail to comply with the existing international law. 2009 China issues two diplomatic notes that appear to claim a majority of the South China Sea. China has become increasingly assertive in the region, and regional powers from Japan to Singapore have become alarmed at China's behavior. The primary challenge to American regional predominance came from Maoist China first through the Korean War and then via communist insurgencies throughout Southeast Asia culminating in the Vietnam War (1963-75). Washington, DC 20036. The United States should intensify capacity building efforts with allies and partners to improve their ability to resist Chinese coercion. It will always have an eye on the need to protect itself against attack from the sea, but there's much more to China's vulnerability than potential invasion or bombardment. Last year, the construction projects covered 72 acres. Shortly after the ARF concluded, an official spokesman for the Chinese Defense Ministry asserted Chinas indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea. The strategic value of the alliance remains high, according to theCongressional Research Service: *** U.S. China, Asia, and the Changing Strategic Importance of the Gulf and MENA The credibility of U.S. security support for allies and partners will be shredded.
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