. Then again, China may see its efforts in the South China Sea blunted. The strategic value of the alliance remains high, according to theCongressional Research Service: *** U.S. 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 But the South China Sea has been dangerously overfished. 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. 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. It was the first time that had ever occurred. Washington, DC 20036. Sign up to receive ShareAmerica updates. Yet, it was and is all of that. 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. Media Relations Manager, External Relations. The power politics, military interests created the South China Sea more important. In short, adopting a more robust deterrence approach need not prevent cooperation that is in the interests of both countries. Giving ground on vital interests in Asia will not encourage greater cooperation on global issues. As a result of this shift, China now seeks to control sea lines of communication, ensure national prosperity and continue economic growth and national greatness; the South China Sea plays a massive part in this. Nevertheless, for America, this new world will be profoundly discomfiting and even alien. China has seized the initiative in the South China Sea, however, and the United States needs to revamp its strategy to reverse current trends and escape the trap of reactive and ineffectual policymaking. All this will occur in a region that is increasingly the vibrant center of the world economy. 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 . 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. President Musharraf requested China to invest in this important strategic chokepoint in the Indian Ocean., to which China agreed. access to Thailands military facilities, particularly the strategically located and well-equipped Utapao airbase, is considered invaluable. The United States and the West more broadly can live with such an outcome. 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. 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. Australia and Vietnam established a Comprehensive Partnership in 2009 and agreed to expand it in 2015. Southeast Asia will inevitably be rendered subordinate and compliant to Chinas will. 2016 The Arbitration Tribunal rules in favor of the Philippines. director of the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative at Peking . 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. 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 . South China Sea and possible options. 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. Narendra Modis Act East policy has resulted in an acceleration of burgeoning India-ASEAN ties and Indias position on the South China Sea territorial disputes essentially mirrors that of the United States. The result has been to heighten tensions and allow Chinese forces to more easily project military power across the region. The conflict and tension over competing sovereignty claims in the South China Sea has grown considerably in the past 5-10 years. Such pressure should focus on concrete, near-term objectives, such as putting a stop to reeducation of regime critics. The South China Sea is one of the most important economic and environmental regions in the world. Chinas militarization and territorial expansion in the South China Sea is illegal and dangerous, Vice President Pence said at the East Asia Summit last year. Stay Connected! In 2010, the US declared its freedom of navigation in the SCS to be a national interest in response to Chinas increasingly assertive posture. Washingtons relationship with Hanoi will make that more palatable. Without the southern American presence, Chinese forces could more easily divide American forces east and west in the event of a crisis, more easily defend territorial claims or intimidate Malaysia and Indonesia, and more easily threaten maritime and air traffic crisscrossing the South China Sea. Read more, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NWWashington, DC 20004-3027, 2023 The Wilson Center. We will defend freedom of the seas and skies.. Hence, the importance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. 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Such access would complement the renewed U.S. presence in the Philippines; facilitate a regular American presence in the western part of the South China Sea; enable the United States to more easily defendor seal upthe Malacca Strait; and, it should be noted, put American forces within striking distance of major Chinese bases on Hainan, including port facilities that host Chinas ballistic missile submarines. It is little surprise, then, that Southeast Asian states are drawing closer to the United Statesboth seeking aid in developing their own defense capabilities and hoping that stronger ties act as a deterrent to Chinese assertiveness. China has become increasingly assertive in the region, and regional powers from Japan to Singapore have become alarmed at China's behavior. The three core areas that must be defended and secured are the Malay Peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak. 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. This has continued in to the present day. Chinas island outposts will increase this advantage as Chinese aircraft, ships, and paramilitary vessels will be able to rest and resupply in the southern portion of the South China Sea. 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 neighboring South East Asian countries of the highly volatile and busiest waterways of the South China Sea (SCS) have overlapping claims of sovereignty. In addition, it has proved oil and gas reserves, so the sovereignty of the disputed islands involves legal rights to exploit its resources. In 1995, the Philippines discovered that China had occupied and militarized an atoll (Mischief Reef) well within the Philippines EEZ and within maritime territory claimed by Manila. South China Sea or even some part of its strategically significant zones will provide the sovereign nation state significant seat in global trade agreements. Learn more in our Cookie Policy. Despite all that, Beijing now faces a competition with Washington (and Delhi and Tokyo) for influence in Naypyidaw. through South China Sea Port is 1400 kms long. It is highly likely that China will continue to upset regional stability in the SCS to expand its own sphere of influence. Japan and South Korea will face a perilous new reality with China in control of the seaborne lifeline of both countries. With the National League for Democracy now in power in Naypyidaw, China cannot rely on Burma as an automatic ally. The South China Sea is one such essential waterway, made more important by the value of the sea's fisheries and subsea resources such as natural gas. There were, however, cautionary signs for those prepared to see them. There are certainly other situations involving other challenges, but this is the most plausible and dangerous. The area is globally important for a few reasons. If China succeeds, in displacing U.S. power in the Western Pacific and Chinese territorial expansion into the South China Sea becomes permanent and codified, global geopolitics will have entered a new and very different era. Close allies such as Australia and Japan have a great deal to offer in terms of capability and capacity, and should be encouraged to do more. 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. 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. China has steadily built capabilities and infrastructure, most notably military facilities on artificial islands, that enable greater control of the South China Sea. Ownership claims to them are used to bolster claims to the surrounding sea and its resources. Security, Strategy, and Military Dynamics in South China Sea: Cross-National Perspectives on JSTOR. Almost all the East Asian countries are dependent on this sea. South China Sea has geo-strategic, geo-politic and geo-economic importance due to half of the world trade passage and presence of precious resources of oil and gas. Abstract. 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. These actions suggest that China might undermine freedom of navigation and overflight, principles of fundamental importance to the United States. The strategic landscape of the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia in the early 1990s was remarkably benign with optimism in full flower. The United States can do more to leverage its alliances in Asia to raise the costs of Chinese efforts to undermine the regional order. 1. It is a rich source of hydrocarbons and natural resources. Pexels India-China Indo-Pacific South China Sea Signalling is important international relations. China sought access to natural resources, to political influence and to a strategic maritime position in the Bay of Bengal. 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. The Korean War produced formal defense treaties with each of these countries plus a new, permanent military presence in South Korea. 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. Firstly, the South China Sea is a prominent shipping passage with $5.3 trillion worth of . In addition to conventional concerns about territorial defense, the South China Sea is also important for China because of its nationalist claims to all of the tiny land . The sea is rich in resources and holds significant strategic and political importance. The annual Cobra Gold exercise is Asias largest multilateral military exercise. This principled stand allows the United States to defend its interests without embroiling itself in the murky sovereignty claims at the heart of the South China Sea dispute. In practice, Thailand may be neutral in the regions great power fissures into the next decade. The third will assess the policies/strategies currently employed by the United States in this arena as well as other plausible options.