With a maturing coast guard, navy and air force, Vietnam will become an increasingly prickly foe. In such a complex environment, it is important to have well-established, recognizable rules of international law. Preserving the U.S. military edge is key to maintaining the U.S. position in Asia. We will defend freedom of the seas and skies.. The message will be clear; the era of American international leadership and predominance is over and a new preeminent power has taken its place. In particular, shifting explanations for how the United States will manage Chinas rising power and influencealong with the military-heavy implementation of the rebalancehave exacerbated suspicions that Washington seeks to contain Beijings rise. The United States sent a carrier battle group there as well. When China moved a massive oilrig, theHaiyang Shiyou 981, into Vietnams exclusive economic zone in 2014, Vietnam had limited options to respond, at either the low end or the high. Figure 3 highlights the influenced areas. 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. By the mid-1990s, relations with Vietnam had begun a rapidly improvement. The region also is the subject of more than a dozen overlapping and interconnected disputes over who is in charge of the various islands, rocks, shoals and reefs scattered throughout the South China Sea waters. Anil Trigunayat, 5th Generation Warfare: A Real Global Warming (Alarming) and its Implications for Pakistan, The Geopolitics of Indo-Pacific: the Rise of India and the Possible Challenges for Pakistan, 75 Years of Pakistan's Independence: Audit of Achievements and Failures, Bacterial Attack on Azerbaijani Oil a fictitious scenario, Pakistan, from the Shackles of Oligarchy to the Emergence of Democracy, Impact of Climate Change on Flood-Stricken People in Balochistan, Dimensions of Religion: Use, Misuse and Beyond, Breaking Free from Fossil Fuels: Why Nuclear Energy is Significant for Pakistan, Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education and Scientific Research: an interview with Fatima Roumate, Dalits, the Bottom of Indias Caste Ladder. Thailand has little reason to jettison the alliance, but in the near term the United States may need to accept more distant ties and a closer Thai-Chinese relationship. By contrast, China views. More than half of the world's fishing vessels are in the South China Sea, and millions of people depend on these waters for their food and livelihoods. The SCS is passage of half of the world trade. Final Thoughts & Looking Towards the Future. 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 . director of the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative at Peking . Countries across the region prioritized economic growth and modernization. In a context of great power competition, the South China Sea (SCS) has emerged as an arena of U.S.-China strategic competition. The credibility of U.S. security support for allies and partners will be shredded. 5 min. These actions suggest that China might undermine freedom of navigation and overflight, principles of fundamental importance to the United States. The strategic signal of an Indian presence in the South China Sea Harsh V. Pant India has wider stakes in South China Sea as nearly 55% of India's trade with the Indo-Pacific region passes through these waters. Australia, for its part, has vocally supported U.S. freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea and may have quietly conducted its own in recent months. It would also open the option of persistently jamming Chinese radar installations in the Spratlys. European access to Asia will be through Beijing. The sea-lanes that pass through the South China Sea are the busiest, most important, maritime waterways in the world. Accordingly, Malaysia's note verbale serves as the strongest stance of Malaysia on the SCS in recent times and aligns itself with the top priority of its DWP. Cooperation on areas of shared interest is important not only to the United States, but also to China. Enduring U.S. interestsfreedom of navigation and overflight, support for the rules-based international order, and the peaceful resolution of disputesare at risk in the region. China, too, considers control of these waters to be of high strategic importance. Current developments in the South China Sea must be understood against the backdrop of recent history. 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. China has become increasingly assertive in the region, and regional powers from Japan to Singapore have become alarmed at China's behavior. Unfortunately, some countries fail to comply with the existing international law. It remains entirely plausible that any Chinese strategy could have a long term goal of possessing the power to deny US or western warships access to the SCS, with China largely laying claim to most of the area as it's own waters. U.S. access to the military facilities on the South China Seas southern flank, however, would shift the regions balance of power in Americas favor. Today's world is the US-led where China is a rising giant economically and politically. India is training crews for Vietnams new Kilo-class submarines and will sell Vietnam BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles. Unfortunately, the allies now lack a shared strategic outlook, thus reducing the impetus to overcome recent bilateral political hurdles. The South China Sea (SCS) has great strategic and economic significance in the contemporary international politico-security environment. The area includes several hundred small islands, rocks, and reefs, with the majority located in the Paracel and Spratly Island chains. Learn more in our Cookie Policy. MANILA - Major powers are wading deeper into the South China Sea in a series of moves that promise to rile China while answering US calls for like-minded nations to counter jointly Beijing's rising assertiveness in the crucial and contested maritime area. 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. The South China Sea is basically China's export waterway to Africa and to Europe (among other markets), but in order for China's enemy (aspiring conqueror), America, to harm and weaken China maximally, and to use the United Nations assisting in that aggression, America and its allies have cast this vital trade-waterway as being instead basically just an area to be exploited for oil and gas . 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. Chinas significant increase in spending and capability of its maritime forces is of note. There were, however, cautionary signs for those prepared to see them. Chinas rising military power and political influence is generating anxiety and suspicion among some of its neighbours and western powers. The strategic importance of the SCS is mainly due to its geographical location, as the area is one of the world's busiest and most strategic shipping lanes. In addition to far flung island territories (formerly occupied by Japan) in the South Pacific, the United States had a substantial military garrison in Japan and close ties with South Korea and the Philippines a former colony. Certainly, the ongoing reform process and the opening of relations with the United States amount to a strategic setback for Chinas position in the region. South China Sea is also strategically important due to the rising competition between China, Vietnam, Philippine and the US for military supremacy in the Asia-Pacific region. As maritime security such as safety and freedom of . How that competition will evolve remains to be seen, but the very fact of the contest should be understood as a reversal of fortune for China. Successful capacity building efforts will allow Southeast Asian states to better help themselves, bolstering deterrence against low-level Chinese coercion and allowing the U.S. military to focus more on deterring high-level contingencies. Three years ago an arbitration tribunal issued a decision finding that Chinas maritime claims in the South China Sea are inconsistent with the Law of the Sea Convention. Islands in the South China Sea The islands of the South China Sea can be grouped into two island chains. China, however, must now balance its continental concerns, which remain complex, against its new dependence on the maritime domain. 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. South China Sea and possible options. The area is globally important for a few reasons. The annual Cobra Gold exercise is Asias largest multilateral military exercise. Vietnam and the Philippines have also attempted to form a strategic alliance with Japan in their struggle with China in the SCS. 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. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW The sea is rich in resources and holds significant strategic and political importance. Under President Xi Jinping, Beijing has undertaken more assertive policies that have greatly improved Beijings position in the South China Sea. The two major power of the world i.e. The third will assess the policies/strategies currently employed by the United States in this arena as well as other plausible options. If full democratization is her goal, there is no foreign partner more important than Washington for achieving it. 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.. China sought access to natural resources, to political influence and to a strategic maritime position in the Bay of Bengal. With the National League for Democracy now in power in Naypyidaw, China cannot rely on Burma as an automatic ally. The USA have a direct connection to the area through various allies, connections and trade, and this will naturally continue. The risk to Chinese power projection lies predominantly with US interests. The new administration should issue clear and consistent strategic messages, since inconsistent articulation of the objectives of the rebalance strategy has caused confusion in China and amongst U.S. allies and partners. More and more, we see a particularly aggressive maritime stance from China towards NATO warships when exercising freedom of navigation through the SCS. China perceives Vietnam as an obstacle for acquiring its control over this strategic sea. 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. 2023 Center for Strategic & International Studies. What is the strategic importance of the South China Sea. India has likewise pursued deeper defense ties with Vietnam, and Indian warships just made port calls at Cam Ranh Bay and Subic Bay while en route to trilateral naval exercises with the United States and Japan in the Western Pacific. There were, however, cautionary signs for those prepared to see them. 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. This access will allow for more frequent, more sustained flights over the South China Sea, including over the disputed Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal. In the contemporary era, Taiwan remains geographically at the intersection of most of East Asia's danger points. The U.S. military used Utapao for refueling efforts during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s, as well as for multinational relief efforts after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and April 2015 Nepal earthquake., The U.S.-Thai alliance has also served as a platform for important training exercises. 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. China is undertaking a persistent, long-term effort to establish control over the South China Sea. 1982 More than 160 nations conclude the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, an international treaty setting out the framework governing the oceans and their uses. In addition, the United States has affirmed some responsibility for the defense of Taiwan and has close security ties with Singapore and New Zealand.