United States Naval Strategy In The South China Sea To Ensure International Freedom Of Navigation

"The United States Navy maintains a near constant presence within the South China Sea with ships either underway or based close by in Singapore, Guam and Japan. The Philippines and Vietnam are the two most active local foils against China’s growing influence and aggressive activities in the South China Sea. This research paper uses a qualitative approach to argue that the US Navy strategy, in the South China Sea, must use a combination of confrontational and cooperative measures with the Chinese, while cooperating with the Philippine and Vietnamese governments to ensure continued freedom of safe navigation. To begin a summary of some of the significant events will be investigated to set a baseline of where China, the Philippines, Vietnam and the United States currently see themselves and perceive each other in the challenging South China Sea environment. Next, the national strategies, as formally documented, are discussed for the United States, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. The following section focuses on potential ways ahead for the US Navy in the South China Sea to include confrontation, cooperation, isolation, and building partnerships to resolve maritime and territorial disputes. Four recommendations emerge from this paper, which attempt to lay out an appropriate US Naval strategy for the South China Sea. The first recommendation is for the United States to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The second recommendation is for the US Navy to maintain both a confrontational and cooperative strategy in the South China Sea regarding China. The third recommendation is for the US Navy to build a closer relationship with the Vietnamese Navy. The final recommendation is for the US Navy to maintain its relationship with the Philippine Navy."--Abstract.

A robust yet accessible history of US involvement in the world's most dangerous waterway, and a guide for what to do about it. Lamentations that the United States is "losing" the South China Sea to China are now common. China has rapidly militarized islands and reefs, projects power across the disputed waterway, and freely harasses US allies and partners. The US has been unable to halt these processes or convince Beijing to respect the rights of smaller neighbors. But what exactly would "losing" mean? In On Dangerous Ground, Gregory B. Poling evaluates US interests in the world's most complex and dangerous maritime disputes by examining more than a century of American involvement in the South China Sea. He focuses on how the disputes there intersected and eventually intertwined with the longstanding US commitment to freedom of the seas and its evolving alliance network in Asia. He shows that these abiding national interests--defense of maritime rights and commitment to allies, particularly the Philippines--have repeatedly pulled US attention to the South China Sea. Understanding how and why is critical if the US and its allies hope to chart a course through the increasingly fraught disputes, while facing a more assertive, more capable, and far less compromising China. With an emphasis on decisions made not just in Washington and Beijing, but also in Manila and other Southeast Asian capitals, On Dangerous Ground seeks to correct the record and balance the China-centric narrative that has come to dominate the issue. It not only provides the most comprehensive account yet of America's history in the South China Sea, but it also demonstrates how that history should inform US national security policy in one of the most important waterways in the world.

The Paracel Islands and South China Sea disputes require better understanding by U.S. policymakers in order to address the regions challenges. To attain that needed understanding, legal aspects of customary and modern laws are explored in this monograph to analyze the differences between competing maritime and territorial claims, and why and how China and Vietnam stake rival claims or maritime legal rights. Throughout, U.S. policies are examined through U.S. conflicted interests in the region. Recommendations for how the United States should engage these issues, a more appropriate task than trying to solve the disputes outright, are then offered.

The South China Sea is of strategic importance to the United States and global economy. Continued access to the Sea Lines of Communications in South China Sea is vital for Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The U.S. Navy needs ensure to freedom of navigation and overflight by maintaining its presence in the South China Sea. As the People's Republic of China continues to grow economically and militarily, her economic and political interests will increase in the region. This will increase the clashes in the South China Sea between China and the U.S. the location almost likely to play out the future of Sino-U.S. relations. China currently claims all of the South China Sea and is in dispute with other Southeast Asian nation claimants. China's maritime claim Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone, and People's Liberation Army's Navy modernization are aimed at excluding the U.S. Navy for the South China Sea.

For the first time since its founding in 1921, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has adopted a new paradigm for its role in China. Abandoning its former identity as a 'revolutionary party', the CCP now regards itself as a 'governing party' committed to meeting the diverse needs of its people and realizing China’s revitalization as a great power. To enhance its ability to realize these aims, the CCP has enacted extensive political and ideological reforms. Central to that effort are changes to how the party develops and oversees strategy and policy. Few studies are available on the CCP's adoption of this new identity and of its political implications. This book remedies that oversight by explaining the historic context, drivers, and meaning of the governing party paradigm. It explains how adoption of this paradigm is transforming the processes through which the CCP develops strategy and policy. Furthermore, it differs from many other books in that it is the first to derive its analysis primarily from the study of authoritative Chinese sources. The book also provides an extensive array of helpful references, including chronologies, lists of major strategy documents, a glossary, and more. Accurately understanding the CCP's new role as a governing party requires a firm grasp of how China’s leadership formulates, documents, and implements strategies and policies to improve its governance and further the nation’s rejuvenation. This book provides such valuable information in one handy volume.

This volume brings together international experts to provide fresh perspectives on geopolitical concerns in the South China Sea. The book considers the interests and security strategies of each of the nations with a claim to ownership and jurisdiction in the Sea. Examining contexts including the region’s natural resources and China’s behaviour, the book also assesses the motivations and approaches of other states in Asia and further afield. This is an accessible, even-handed and comprehensive examination of current and future rivalries and challenges in one of the most strategically important and militarized maritime regions of the world.

The need for freedoms of navigation in regional waters is frequently mentioned in statements from regional forums, but a common understanding of what constitutes a particular freedom of navigation or the relevant law is lacking. This book discusses how law, politics and strategy intersect to provide different perspectives of freedoms on navigation in the Asia-Pacific region. These freedoms are very important in this distinctively maritime region, but problems arise over interpreting the navigational regimes under the law of the sea, especially with regard to the rights of foreign warships to transit another country’s territorial sea without prior notification or authorisation of the coastal state, and with determining the availability of high seas freedoms of navigation and overflight in an exclusive economic zone. The book explores these issues, referring in particular to the position of the main protagonists on these issues in Asian waters – the United States and China – with their strongly opposing views. The book concludes with a discussion of the prospects for either resolving these different perspectives or for developing confidence-building measures that would reduce the risks of maritime incidents. Providing a comprehensive yet concise overview of the various different factors affecting freedom of navigation, this book will be a valuable resource for those working or studying in the fields of international relations, maritime security and the law of the sea.

Now in a third, revised edition, Excessive Maritime Claims by J. Ashley Roach and Robert W. Smith is designed for law of the sea and maritime law specialists. The book draws on published governmental material in the public domain, specifically the U.S., and addresses recent progress in maritime security, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by sea, piracy, and protection of underwater cultural heritage. As a result of significant developments in the law of the sea, primarily with reference to the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, Excessive Maritime Claims provides up to date coverage of current affairs as well as introduce new topics such as: submarine cables, polar areas, environmental protection, sovereign immunity and sunken ships, and maritime law enforcement.

Great Powers, Grand Strategies offers the analysis of a dozen experts on the “big picture” approaches to the South China Sea dispute. By exploring the international dimensions of this regional hotspot, Gordon Chang, Bernard Cole, James Fanell, Bill Hayton, and others examine how the military, diplomatic, and economic strategies of the major global actors have both contributed to solutions and exacerbated the potential for conflict. As editor of this volume, Anders Corr seeks to juxtapose the grand strategies of the great powers to determine the likely outcomes of the South China Sea dispute, as well as evaluate the ways to possibly defuse tensions in the region.