The South China Sea, comprising of China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam, is composed of archipelagos, strategic straits and sea lanes, which provides the key maritime link between the Indian Ocean and East Asia and also subject to dispute between the competing countries of the region. In fact, territorial disputes constitute one of the main factors for potential conflict in the region and continue to undermine the improvement of relations.
All countries concerned present elaborate legal-historical arguments to support their claims over contested territories and maritime boundaries. Moreover, all these disputes have an underlying similarity: they are driven primarily by domestic politics, and the abundance of energy resources in the areas of dispute. Further, the states continue to enhance their military presence in the region as a means of physically reinforcing their territorial claims. The Sino-Vietnamese clash over disputed Islands was an example that the parties to the dispute have not been afraid to use military force. In sum, maritime of the South China Sea has increasingly become a dangerous milieu where the building of trust and confidence is sorely needed.
The situation is not totally obdurate, however, and there have already been some precedents in constructing a web of agreements in regard to conflict prevention: the involved states have discussed to share fish stocks and the joint development of hydrocarbons in their areas of overlapping continental shelf claims. Notwithstanding the above, these approaches exhibit a lack of mutual trust and fail to adequately incorporate regional security cooperation.
While the concept of confidence building and regional cooperation may appear intrinsically attractive, the extent of its utility in addressing global conflicts, as is the focus of this project, is in need of greater study. Thus, this project focuses the threats to maritime security in South China Sea and examines the factors tending toward strengthened maritime regional cooperation.
The project continues further discussion and exposition of the points outlined below:
- In Asia, national identity linked to territory as well as national security concerns remain of critical importance.
- Negotiations over the regional cooperation could lead to further conflict if not sensitively or equitably managed. The same could apply to cooperative activities if differences of opinion emerge - something which could be easily instrumentalized to the detriment of political relations.
- In light of energy security considerations, the presence of energy resources in the seas would likely undermine the regional cooperation and remains one of the main obstacles, where securing energy supplies is seen largely as a zero-sum game.
