Vietnam's coastline bordering the South China Sea is over 3,000 kilometers long. Miguel . All this will occur in a region that is increasingly the vibrant center of the world economy. U.S. Navy/Handout[/caption]. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), it carries one-third of global shipping, carrying trillions of dollars in trade, making it a significant geopolitical water body. The Korean War produced formal defense treaties with each of these countries plus a new, permanent military presence in South Korea. Since 2009, China has growingly asserted its influence over the SCS by enforcing an annual fishing ban, conducting regular maritime patrols, undertaking scientific surveys and conducting military exercises in the disputed islands and waters. Such pressure should focus on concrete, near-term objectives, such as putting a stop to reeducation of regime critics. Less sexy but no less important is a forthcoming arrangement by which Vietnam will allow the United States military to preposition supplies and equipment in Da Nang on the central coast. To counter China's efforts to control the South China Sea, the United States needs a sustainable strategy to bolster its own capabilities, work more effectively with capable allies and partners, and strengthen the regional order. Nevertheless, Beijing had taken its first overt step to control the South China Sea. The United States, moreover, should work with its other Pacific alliesAustralia, South Korea and especially Japanto consider ways that they can lead efforts to expand infrastructure investment in Southeast Asia, perhaps by reforming and enlarging the Asian Development Bank or by launching a joint infrastructure investment fund. Countering Chinas efforts has become a key test of perceived U.S. commitment to many in the region. The Tribunal rejects Chinas maritime claims that go beyond the entitlements set out in the Law of the Sea Convention. Conservation values protection of marine habitat against wanton, unnecessary despoliation are also essential. Yet, due to Turkey's strategic importance, the US cannot afford to affront Mr. Erdogan, who carries a peculiar . It has increased its military budget by over 8.5% in recent years and this is likely to continue for the near future. The result has been to heighten tensions and allow Chinese forces to more easily project military power across the region. The United States can do more to leverage its alliances in Asia to raise the costs of Chinese efforts to undermine the regional order. The islands are important, however, for strategic and political reasons. In a meeting attended by the foreign ministers of 26 nations from the broader region, Clinton simply asserted that the South China Sea was subject to multiple territorial claims and a multinational mechanism should be established to find a peaceful diplomatic solution. It is growing more difficult to discuss Southeast Asia without discussing Japan, India and Australia, whose ties to the region and to each other are maturing and whose militarieswhether represented by personnel, aircraft, or warshipsare increasingly present in the region. Giving ground on vital interests in Asia will not encourage greater cooperation on global issues. Geopolitical platform, analysis of political, military, security, economic, social events with international and geopolitics relevance. But in order to achieve renewed stability in the regionto ensure that Southeast Asians are not susceptible to non-military Chinese coercionthe United States must strive to become more than just the security partner of choice. Many of these countries suffer from corruption and lack for effective rule of law. With a maturing coast guard, navy and air force, Vietnam will become an increasingly prickly foe. 1. In each of these arenas, a successful Chinese effort to seize control of the South China Sea will have a profound impact and each is worth elaboration. director of the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative at Peking . The United States should continue to prioritize military presence in the Asia-Pacific at the same time as it invests in key capabilities, such as long-range precision strike, undersea warfare, cyber/space systems, and other capabilities that will preserve the U.S. ability to deter Chinese aggression. China has tried to effectively annex the whole South China Sea region as its territorial waters, according to Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). China perceives Vietnam as an obstacle for acquiring its control over this strategic sea. It was the first time that had ever occurred. The Balloon Incident and Evolution of Espionage. If this sounds overstated or overwrought it is not. South China Sea is a strategic sea lane is significance for connectivity, navigation, trade and resources is a global hotspot as a potential flashpoint. Indeed, when push came to shove, China would force its bilateral partners to choose between economic prosperity on the one hand and security and even sovereignty on the other. At the economic front, it is estimated that an annual global trade of $5.3 trillion passes through the SCS. As . Shortly after the ARF concluded, an official spokesman for the Chinese Defense Ministry asserted Chinas indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea. From a strategic perspective, the geographical significance of the SCS is that whoever has dominance over it, dominates the future of East Asia. See Media Page for more interview, contact, and citation details. Thanks to the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), American power projection capabilities will be regularly present in the Philippines for the first time since the early 1990s. Dispersed American forces would act as countermeasure and would complicate defense planning for the Chinese military and political calculations for Beijing, while ensuring U.S. forces are positioned to support each other in the event of a crisis. In such a complex environment, it is important to have well-established, recognizable rules of international law. These factors combined give a strategic importance to the South China Sea that has led to numerous states Brunei, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam each pressing their own claims to . Tackling these issues will be tricky for the United States, as many of the elites that benefit from corruption will be those with whom Washington must work to deepen ties, but this is a long-term effort worth pursuing. 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. China, Russia and the Munich Security Conference. by Geoffrey Hartman Follow the Asia Program on Twitter @AsiaProgram. The global focus of economic power has traditionally been centred over the west with the UK and the USA as the key contributors; however in recent years, this has shifted east (see Figure 1), with the main reason for this being rapid urbanization in developing countries, in particular China. Not taking a position on sovereignty allows the United States to flexibly intervene in the South China Sea to defend its interests and international rules and norms, while undercutting Chinese attempts to paint U.S. actions as a threat to Beijings sovereignty. American littoral combat ships are rotating through Singapore, at the South China Seas western extremis, and the city-state has also quietly built the only Asian port outside of Yokohama at which an American aircraft carrier can dock. The U.S. The South China Sea (SCS) consists of over 200 tiny islands, reefs, shoals, atolls and sandbanks grouped in to 3 archipelagos the Spratlys, the Paracels and the Pratas Macclesfield Bank and Scarborough Shoal. U.S. allies and partners in the region are drawing lessons from Chinese coercive behavior and the limited U.S. response to it, and some are beginning to doubt U.S. resolve and adjust their foreign policies in response. Under President Xi Jinping, Beijing has undertaken more assertive policies that have greatly improved Beijings position in the South China Sea. The United States can stand firm on its principles and deter China from undermining the regional order while maintaining a productive relationship. The reaction of the Chinese Foreign Minister was incendiary and revealing. The United States has been largely successful at preserving its own freedom of action and deterring outright Chinese aggression in the South China Sea through routine presence operations. Guidelines for a South China Sea Strategy. Australia and Vietnam established a Comprehensive Partnership in 2009 and agreed to expand it in 2015. Unfortunately, some countries fail to comply with the existing international law. Besides, more than half of the world's fishing vessels pass through the SCS. 1994 The Convention on the Law of the Sea goes into effect. In a first, a Modi-Obamajoint statementlast year explicitly raised concerns over the South China Sea and called on all parties to avoid the threat or use of force and pursue resolution of territorial and maritime disputes through all peaceful means.. The outcome of that contest will profoundly influence, if not shape, the 21st century world. The South China Sea (SCS) has great strategic and economic significance in the contemporary international politico-security environment. The area is globally important for a few reasons. The geopolitical message was unmistakable: Western expectations that China was transitioning toward political democracy were entirely illusory. What evidence is there of increased projection of Maritime Power? This has continued in to the present day. Abstract. Strategic Landscape of the South China Sea: While geopolitics indicates geographical relations with politics, there is another importance which is strategic. The U.S. militarys enhanced ability to loiter in and over the South China Sea, moreover, will facilitate more effective efforts to track Chinese submarines sailing from the PLANs underground naval base on Hainan island. The third will assess the policies/strategies currently employed by the United States in this arena as well as other plausible options. China is undertaking a persistent, long-term effort to establish control over the South China Sea. But addressing the risks of its near seas means tackling the time-consuming and costly project of building, training and deploying a stronger blue-water navy while also establishing a greater . The lifting of the arms embargo also opens the door to other forms of U.S.-Vietnam security cooperation. But the South China Sea has been dangerously overfished. The South China Sea is considered a "near sea" and its geographic proximity to the mainland is central to the China's strategic imagination and threat perception. In a context of great power competition, the South China Sea (SCS) has emerged as an arena of U.S.-China strategic competition. 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. These women are creating climate solutions, One year later: Democracy stands in Ukraine. The 2022 Philippine Election: Trouble for Democracy and Foreign Relations Ahead? Generally, oil and minerals move north, and food and manufactured goods move south. What is the strategic importance of the South China Sea. The largest and most powerful of these . China is already providing indications of how it might act when it controls the South China Sea. The most important and least tangible stake in the South China Sea concerns the preservation (or not) of a regional rules-based order supported by U.S. power. Speaking to Anadolu Agency on Thursday, Bonji Ohara, a senior fellow at the Tokyo-based Sasakawa Peace Foundation, said the marginal sea is key to China's security. Few in Washington were inclined to see the South China Sea as a strategic priority engaging vital U.S. national interests. Moving forward, freedom of navigation and routine presence operations should be executed on a regular basis to demonstrate U.S. resolve to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows. Washingtons relationship with Hanoi will make that more palatable. In practice, Thailand may be neutral in the regions great power fissures into the next decade. Journals and books. But as it does so, it acts as midwife to a very real strategic realignment in Southeast Asia, one which promises to benefit the United States and its partners. 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. Seventh Fleet patrolled the regions seaways, including the South China Sea, unchallenged including agreed access to ports throughout much of the region. Russian long-range aviation, despite performing frequent combat missions against Ukraine, is also conducting Pacific patrols, sometimes together with Chinese H-6K strategic bombers (Nikkei Asia, November 30). The USA have a direct connection to the area through various allies, connections and trade, and this will naturally continue. Select Accept to consent or Reject to decline non-essential cookies for this use. In order to understand the contention of the South China Sea and its significance, it is firstly imperative to understand the geopolitical importance of Asia, which has given rise to Chinese pre-eminence; enabling its rise to contemporary major political power on the global stage. President Musharraf requested China to invest in this important strategic chokepoint in the Indian Ocean., to which China agreed. Thailand, of course, has been an important security partner for the United States. Sign up to receive ShareAmerica updates. Importantly, the Air Forces presence on Luzon, perhaps to be followed by regular naval rotations in Subic Bay, will put the United States in a better position to quickly seal up the Luzon Strait, which links the South China Sea to the Philippine Sea and the wider Pacific Ocean. Ownership claims to them are used to bolster claims to the surrounding sea and its resources. Notably, the paper identified Malaysia's maritime claims in the South China Sea as its top security concern. Because of its location, this sea is extremely strategic because it connects the Indian and Pacific Oceans (Strait of Malacca). Second, the United States should feel comfortable adopting a patient approach in pushing a return to full democracy in Thailand. Does US-hegemonic decline translate into a fight between democracy and autocracy in maintaining a benign world order? The SCS is passage of half of the world trade. Strategic. More than 50% of world trade passes. Countries across the region prioritized economic growth and modernization. "American aircraft, this is the PLA air force. In the past two weeks, Filipino . It is the geostrategic importance that is usually the main reason for the parties to strengthen their claim over the Spratlys and the Paracels. China sought access to natural resources, to political influence and to a strategic maritime position in the Bay of Bengal. 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. It would also open the option of persistently jamming Chinese radar installations in the Spratlys. That claim remained shrouded in a calculated fog of ambiguity until 2010 when Secretary of State Clinton addressed the status of the South China Sea and its sea-lanes at a meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Hanoi. To counter Chinas efforts to control the South China Sea, the United States needs a sustainable strategy to bolster its own capabilities, work more effectively with capable allies and partners, and strengthen the regional order. China, for example, has asserted a maritime claim to a large majority of the South China Sea that is not consistent with international law. That line was given little credence or attention in the U.S. or in Asia over the first five decades of the PRCs history. 2023 Center for Strategic & International Studies. When it comes to trade, investment and infrastructure development, China should not be the only game in town. WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the disputed South China Sea has a strategic significance for the international community and any "unlawful" restriction on the freedom of the seas will destabilise peace in the Asia-Pacific region. Washington (United States of America), February 27 (ANI): A Chinese J-11 fighter jet armed with air-to-air missiles intercepted the US Navy reconnaissance jet over the South China Sea, the Wall Street Journal reported. 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. South China Sea or even some part of its strategically significant zones will provide the sovereign nation state significant seat in global trade agreements. Chinas military modernization has included structural reforms establishing a Joint Operations Command and five new theatre commands (Northern, Eastern, Southern, Western and Central). China is working hard to bring under its control the water, islands, rocks and reefs that sit within its imaginary nine-dash line. 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. In April, Australian Defence Force personnel joined the U.S.-Philippines Balikatan maneuvers, which included an amphibious landing exercise. 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. As the pivot of global economy continues to move east it is highly likely that 21st century geopolitics will continue to revolve around Asia and the SCS. The United States also faces a challenge in enforcing international law in the South China Sea. Over the longer term, American defense contractors may have their sights set on sales of fighter aircraft and attack helicopters. First, the United States should feel more confident to pressure the junta on human rights concerns. 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. The most likely single scenario for a major military engagement against a great power adversary would be one against China centered on the South China Sea. Sun Tzu Explains China's Shaping Operations in the South China Sea. the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States." Chinese control of the SCS-and, more generally, Chinese domination of China's near-seas region, meaning the SCS, the East China Sea (ECS), and the Yellow Sea-could substantially aect U.S. strategic, political, and economic interests in the Indo-Pacic region and . Yet, it was and is all of that. In addition, this thesis intends to propose a solution to the dispute by pulling from a variety of sources. The South China Sea is a strategic body of water bordering Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam and China. A third of the world's shipping passes through it, its fisheries are critical sources of food for millions of people. f) . It can receive large aircraft (including C-17s and C-130s); it is close to a deep seaport; and it has infrastructure capable of handling command and control systems. The Art of War helps expose the motivation behind past, current, and future Chinese actions. 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. Coral reefs, which are vital to marine habitats, have been declining by 16 percent per decade, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Finally, the United States should prioritize governance issues in its relations with Southeast Asian states. In particular, Thailand has a much more benign outlook on Chinas rise and on its activities in the South China Sea, and although suggestions that Bangkok would dump Washington for Beijing are certainly overstated, Thai elites are hesitant to be drawn into what they see as a U.S. effort to contain the kingdoms largest trade partner. - Interview with Mei Gechlik, Pelosi's visit to Taiwan Spiking Tensions Between the U.S. and China: an interview with Andrew K.P. China, however, must now balance its continental concerns, which remain complex, against its new dependence on the maritime domain. In the near term, this could lead to sales of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment as well as patrol boats to allow Hanoi to better keep an eye on goings-on in the western South China Sea. in the northeast, the South China Sea is one of the most important trade routes in the world. Instead, perceptions of weakness may encourage leaders in Beijing to embrace more assertive behavior. Due to the strategic importance of the area, China will continue to establish a maritime power in the SCS as the most dominant player among states in the region. The refusal, likely prompted by Beijing, might seem to be just another way for China to put pressure on Taiwan, which it has long regarded as a renegade province. Vietnam already flies modern Russian fighter jets and is expecting delivery this year of its sixth and final Kilo-class submarinesubmarines so quiet that the U.S. Navy refers to them as black holes. If the Chinese Navy wants to have its way in the South China Sea, it will have to dedicate resources to tracking those subs, a task with which the PLAN has limited experience. In 1974, Chinese gunboats attacked and defeated a small South Vietnamese military outpost in the Paracels an archipelago of reefs, atolls, and islets in the South China Sea. And thus a new strategic map of Asia begins to emerge.