Showdown in the South China Sea

Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. Bangkok. August 22, 2012. After the two previous events at the FCCT having been anodyne and not particularly informative, it was heartening to attend a panel that was fully versed in the topic at hand and willing to frankly share the information they possessed. The South China Sea("SCS") is a large semi-enclosed sea that is little known to Americans. The sea is bordered by such countries as China, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia and Japan. Almost everything about the SCS is in dispute and subject to conflicting claims. Although many of the territorial and maritime claims are over islets that are mere piles of rock, it is thought that the SCS has important gas and oil deposits that can be exploited, as well as fertile fishing grounds. China seems to claim all of the SCS, but has never been specific about the nature and extent of its claims. Lately, China has been ratcheting up its rhetoric and its military, and the fear is that the US will be drawn into the dispute because of treaty obligations with both Japan and the Philippines. Aside from checking China's expansionary desires, the US has important interests in maintaining freedom of navigation and over flight rights. The US position is that China should negotiate with a multinational agency such as ASEAN, while the Chinese want bi-lateral negotiations only. The difference is important and so far, no resolution is in sight. For the foreseeable future, the SCS will be an important issue in this part of the world, with world-wide implications.

(Above photo left to right) Henry Bensurto Jr., head of the Commission on Maritime and Ocean Affairs under the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs;
Kavi Chongkittavorn, a frequent commentator and senior fellow at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University; and Dr Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, Deputy Director, Center for South China Sea Studies Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.