Description
The history of the South China Sea is a catalyst of international cooperation and conflict. Security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific is largely governed by command of these strategic waters. More than half of global shipping transits the South China Sea, which also holds significant reserves of oil, gas and minerals as well as some of the largest fisheries in the world. Drawing on a team of field-leading researchers, Jenner and Thuy provide an empirical study of the global ocean's most contested sea space. The volume's four parts offer an insightful analysis of the significance of the South China Sea to the international order; sub-national agents of influence on relations between states; the disputes over sovereignty through the analytical prism of international law; and the conflictful region's prospects. The primary source-based conclusion elucidates the agency of history and strategy in the South China Sea.
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"As a primary trade route for more than half of the world's shipping, the location of potentially huge oil and gas reserves, and the main source of protein in maritime South- East Asia, the South China Sea is a governing determinant of security, prosperity and development in East Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific region. The disputes in the South China Sea have long been seen as a source of tension and instability in the region. Although peace has been maintained until now, the South China Sea is the epicentre of changes in the international balance of power which have the potential to trigger military conflict. The South China Sea sovereignty disputes are among the most complicated in the world and engage claims from Brunei, China, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Given the complex convergence of national interests in the region, the prospect of settling the decades-old disputes completely is very slim"--
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