Philippine Fulcrum

Philippine Fulcrum

By Aaron Kelly, Michael Tkacik
January 23, 2020
To strengthen its position in the Philippines and thus in the first island chain, the United States must achieve two key goals: diversify its diplomatic engagement with Manila and coordinate military resources and strategy.
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ASEAN and Its Partners for Good Order at Sea: Problems and Proposals

ASEAN and Its Partners for Good Order at Sea: Problems and Proposals

By Le Dinh Tinh
February 5, 2018
This paper argues that only on a rule-based order enforced by appropriate measures can ASEAN and its partners achieve a peaceful and secure maritime environment that benefits all. To ensure safety and security amid the shifting balance of power and mounting ...
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Why ‘Good Order’ at Sea Matters

Why ‘Good Order’ at Sea Matters

By Abhijit Singh
January 10, 2018
As disputes have escalated into tit-for-tat actions at South China Sea and East Sea, including naval posturing and provocative land reclamation, regional states have sought to enhance ‘good order' by attempting to formalize a nautical ‘code of conduct’. Yet, strategic analysts have ...
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Viewing Maritime Forces Modernization in the Asia-Pacific in Perspective

Viewing Maritime Forces Modernization in the Asia-Pacific in Perspective

By Collin Koh Swee Lean
January 6, 2018
Maritime force buildup cannot be seen in quantitative terms only. In the foreseeable future, Asia-Pacific navies will continue to gravitate towards large, multi-role surface and subsurface platforms that exist in smaller numbers but being each vastly more superior than their older predecessors.
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A Third Way for the US in the South China Sea

A Third Way for the US in the South China Sea

By Vu Quang Tiep & Le Thu Ha
October 12, 2017
Washington should think beyond the dyad of containment and appeasement. The struggle for a rule-based order in South China Sea is enduring and comprehensive, which requires greater persistence and stronger engagements on the part of the US and other regional countries. 
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Prepare for a Stormy 2017 in the South China Sea

Prepare for a Stormy 2017 in the South China Sea

By Gregory Poling
January 17, 2017
The desire to see Chinese diplomatic softening as a sign of a new status quo is understandable, and it is important that the door be left open for Beijing to deescalate. But China’s recent behavior should be seen as the best ...
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Middle Powers and  the South China Sea: Time to Step Up, or Step Out?

Middle Powers and the South China Sea: Time to Step Up, or Step Out?

By Andrew O’Neil
December 31, 2016
The decision in July 2016 by a special tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration to dismiss the legitimacy of China’s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea has raised significant questions about how this issue should be managed in ...
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National Interests and the Role of Major and Middle Powers in the South China Sea: Australia’s Cautiously Calibrated Approach

National Interests and the Role of Major and Middle Powers in the South China Sea: Australia’s Cautiously Calibrated Approach

By Euan Graham
December 31, 2016
However vocally supportive Canberra is of the United States in the South China Sea, in an operational sense Australia has held back since Washington began its current freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs), in October 2015, shortly after Malcolm Turnbull took over ...
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De-combatising the Spratly Disputes

De-combatising the Spratly Disputes

By You Ji
December 31, 2016
The possibility of standoffs among the Spratly disputants and especially between China and the US may have increased with the ruling of the Arbitral Tribunal on 12 July 2016. The award has invalidated Beijing’s basis for Spratly patrols based on the ...
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The Potential Utility of International Law in Conflict Mitigation and Resolution in the South China Sea

The Potential Utility of International Law in Conflict Mitigation and Resolution in the South China Sea

By Bing Ling
December 29, 2016
The conflicts in the South China Sea have a substantial legal dimension. The disputes over territorial sovereignty and maritime rights are classical subjects of international law. UNCLOS provides a comprehensive framework of international rules on the maritime claims of the riparian ...
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Japan’s National Interests in the South China Sea: FON, the Rule of Law, and Nuclear Deterrence

Japan’s National Interests in the South China Sea: FON, the Rule of Law, and Nuclear Deterrence

By Tetsuo Kotani
December 29, 2016
The great geostrategist Nicholas Spykman once described the South China Sea as the ‘Asiatic Mediterranean’ to emphasise its importance in Asian geopolitics. Just as the Roman Empire sought control over the Mediterranean and the United States over the Caribbean in pursuit ...
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State Transformation and Chinese Actions in the South China Sea

State Transformation and Chinese Actions in the South China Sea

By Shahar Hameiri & Lee Jones
December 29, 2016
Chinese actions in the South China Sea (SCS) have been closely observed by analysts in recent years. Many incidents indicate the implementation of a strategy for the expansion of Chinese control over the disputed waters. These include clashes involving fishing and ...
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The ‘South Sea’ and ASEAN: Failing Unity amidst Beijing’s Duplicitous Diplomacy

The ‘South Sea’ and ASEAN: Failing Unity amidst Beijing’s Duplicitous Diplomacy

By Christopher B. Roberts
December 28, 2016
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has sought to address the challenges of the disputes in the South China Sea for close to a quarter of a century. This paper examines the circumstances and extent to which ASEAN has been ...
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Rebalancing: Vietnam’s South China Sea Challenges and Responses

Rebalancing: Vietnam’s South China Sea Challenges and Responses

By Tran Truong Thuy
December 27, 2016
The South China Sea persists as the leading security and development challenge for Vietnam. In Hanoi’s view, the situation in the South China Sea affects almost all aspects of national security and development: protecting territorial integrity and national sovereignty; promoting maritime economic ...
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Strategic Reassuarance and Resolve: U.S.- China Relations in the 21st Century (Book Review)

Strategic Reassuarance and Resolve: U.S.- China Relations in the 21st Century (Book Review)

By Trang Thuy Le
November 14, 2016
As professional foreign policy makers and analysts with profound experience on and close observation of US-China relations, James Steinberg and Michael O’Hanlon have provided a relatively generalized strategic perspective about as well as detailed and practical suggestions for the implementation of ...
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Philippine Military Pursues Territorial Defense Goals despite Rapprochement between the Philippines and China

Philippine Military Pursues Territorial Defense Goals despite Rapprochement between the Philippines and China

By Renato Cruz De Castro
November 14, 2016
President Rodrigo Duterte’s high profile state visit to Beijing in October 2017 led analysts, observers, and decision-makers all over East Asia to conclude the Philippines have turned away from its traditional treaty ally, the United States and have embraced China. 
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Unreliable evidence and the South China Sea problem

Unreliable evidence and the South China Sea problem

By Bill Hayton
November 15, 2016
A review of the verifiable evidence tells a different history about the islands in the South China Sea than that found in the most of the commonly used reference texts. 
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The South and East China Sea Disputes and Their Influence on a Revised World Order

The South and East China Sea Disputes and Their Influence on a Revised World Order

By Liselotte Odgaard
November 14, 2016
Maritime disputes in China’s neighbourhood are important because they confront the key strategic interests of China and the United States as well as their paerceptions of how to define proper conduct and justify sovereignty claims in accordance with international law. 
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