Recent events in the South China Sea and China-Vietnam Relations: Analysed Through the Lens of Chinese Media and Official Reports, by Li Jianwei and Chen Pingping

Introduction The elapsed time of 2011 has seen exciting events in the China-Vietnam relations. Although the overall fraternal bilateral relations have been recognized and mutual efforts have been contributed to promoting the relations to reach a strategic level, events in regard to the South China Sea in May and June were observed to have brought tension to bilateral relations. Both governments...

14/12/2011

Weekly News 12 - 19/12

- ( Diplomat 16/12 )  Obama has China on Back Foot : Barack Obama has plenty of opportunities through the Asia-Pacific to revive the U.S. economy. The question is whether he will seize them;  Can China Handle America’s Return?: The United States’ decision to “pivot” back to the Asia-Pacific is welcome among its allies. But what about its most assertive rising power? - ( Economist 21/11 )  China...

12/12/2011

ASEAN and the Disputes in the South China Sea, by Ha Anh Tuan

Introduction The signing between ASEAN and China of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in 2002 ironically only kept the disputes in the region relatively quiet for five years. Since 2007, tensions between claimant states in the South China Sea (SCS) began to re-emerge and intensify in every aspect, with China being at the centre of almost all incidents. Since...

08/12/2011

Russia and the South China Sea issue: In search of a problem-solving approach, by Evgeny Kanaev

The South China Sea has traditionally been an area where the key strategic interests of the most influential Asia-Pacific powers are focused and intertwined. Currently, the scenario that the issue will rise in the priorities of these powers and acquire a global dimension looks highly probable. Along with these developments, regional multilateral dialogue platforms – the way they have been tackling...

08/12/2011

India’s Stakes in South China Sea, by Vijay Sakhuja

It is true that the current regional power balance is greatly in favour of China and its economic power swamps many Asia Pacific countries including Japan, India and South Korea. China is capitalizing on its power potential and the grammar and language of recent Chinese announcements, articulations and actions relating to sovereignty contestations and territorial disputes and its penchant for intimidating...

08/12/2011

Weekly News 5 - 12/12

- (Project Syndicate 6/12) Obama’s Pacific Pivot: whatever the outcome of the defense-budget debates, “we are going to make sure that we protect the capabilities that we need to maintain our presence in the Asia-Pacific” region. - (Jakarta Post 8/12) US offered F-16s ‘to anticipate rising China’: ‘The US expects Indonesia to help them counter China if anything bad happens in the South China Sea,’...

05/12/2011

To Level up the Cognitive Differences in History and Law: Paving the Way for Cooperation between China and Nations around the South China Sea, by Su Hao, Ren Yuan-Zhe

As is known to all, China is a country with an ancient civilization, and Chinese people have been developing frontier regions and expanding boundaries, laboring and working, living and breeding in this land for thousands of years, and have, consequently, developed a historically integrated territory and institutionalized territorial management. The South China Sea is the sea area which was discovered...

30/11/2011

America “Returns” to Asia: The South China Sea, by Bronson Percival

China has presented the United States with a golden opportunity to reaffirm a principled stand on South China Sea issues and thus strengthen its alliances and partnerships with other states in Asia.  Beijing’s excessive claim and assertive behavior by elements of China’s maritime agencies in the South China Sea have alienated many governments in the rest of Asia.  In the South China Sea, Beijing is...

29/11/2011

Testing the Temperature: The Global Significance of the South China Sea Dispute, by Geoffrey Till

Two different approaches to the complex and difficult South China Sea issue have become clear. One, expressed consistently and strongly by the Chinese, is that the issue should be seen only as a local issue, not a global one. Beijing reacted strongly to Hillary Clinton’s expression of the US interest at the ASEAN summit in Vietnam in July 2010.[1] On his official web-site, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi...

29/11/2011

Opening remark by Amb. Dang Dinh Quy, President of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam

Ha Noi, 3-5 November 2011 Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, On behalf of the Diplomatic Academy of Viet Nam and the Viet Nam Lawyers Association, I wish to extend a warm welcome to all of you who have come to participate in the Third International Workshop on “The South China Sea: Cooperation for Regional Security and Development” in Viet Nam.

28/11/2011