Author: Carlyle A. Thayer, UNSW Canberra
Chinese civilian maritime surveillance vessels carried out a number of aggressive activities in parts of the South China Sea claimed by the Philippines and Vietnam in early 2011, raising regional tensions and sparking concern in the US and throughout the region about maritime security.
This concern now seems largely abated, after diplomatic efforts produced a somewhat unexpected positive development. Read more…
Author: Vikram Nehru, Carnegie Endowment
Tensions continue to rise in the South China Sea following the Obama administration’s foreign policy ‘pivot’ toward Asia late last year.
There are many reasons for the pivot, but a principal motivation was to protect the freedom of navigation in the Malacca Straits and the South China Sea. Read more…
Author: Le Hong Hiep, Vietnam National University
Vietnam is arguably the most ‘sinicised’ country in Southeast Asia, a distinctive result of more than 2000 years of intense interaction between Vietnam and China.
But the Vietnamese absorption of Chinese culture is neither a straightforward process nor an inescapable outcome of geographical proximity; it is much more nuanced. Read more…
Author: Doan Hong Quang, World Bank
Consensus-based policy making is a salient feature of Vietnam, where important decisions are collectively made.
Consensus is needed not only for the formulation of a reform vision but also for the elaboration and implementation of this vision. Read more…
Author: John Hemmings, CSIS, Honolulu
At both the APEC and ASEAN summits, attempts were made to deal with the building impasse over the South China Sea issue.
Tensions over the region have grown steadily since 2009, after China, Vietnam and Malaysia submitted their respective claims under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). China’s naval exercises in the region and apparent willingness to showcase its military capabilities in favour of its claims have also exacerbated these tensions. Read more…
Author: Ralf Emmers, RSIS
The US recently participated in the East Asia Summit (EAS) for the first time — a decision that has wider implications for US–ASEAN relations.
The decision to join the EAS is part of a recalibration of US foreign policy vis-à-vis ASEAN-led multilateral institutions. This shift in policy reflects a broader attempt by the US to re-engage with Southeast Asia — after years of perceived indifference — and is equally related to China’s growing influence in the Asia Pacific region. Read more…
Author: Jayant Menon, ADB
When discussing Laos’ upcoming ASEAN membership with a senior government official in 1995, he insisted the reason his country wanted to join the regional organisation was because Vietnam had just done so.
The response revealed two things. First, Laos, like its neighbouring ASEAN aspirants at the time — Cambodia and Myanmar — did not want to be left behind, and wanted out of the economic wilderness by joining ‘the club’. Second, there was very little appreciation of what membership would entail, let alone what it could evolve into. Read more…
Author: Andy Yee, Hong Kong
Geopolitical tensions continue to simmer in the South China Sea after the Obama administration’s declaration last year of a US ‘return to Asia’ stirred up regional dynamics.
Now, non-claimant states India and Japan are entering into the fray. Read more…
Author: Andy Yee, Hong Kong
At a time when Chinese power is inchoate, Vietnam and the Philippines are becoming increasingly assertive in the South China Sea.
China has tried both the ‘carrot’ and ‘stick’ approach, and neither has been successful. Read more…
Author: Le Hong Hiep, Vietnam National University
Some researchers liken China to a rooster, with Korea as its beak and Vietnam its leg.
The analogy highlights the strategic importance of Vietnam toward China, especially in terms of security, while also suggesting that Vietnam must live under China’s weight. Vietnam is therefore, in Carlyle Thayer’s words, condemned to a ‘tyranny of geography’ where it has no choice but to learn to share its destiny with neighbouring China. Read more…
Author: Takashi Terada, Waseda University
ASEAN’s function is often described as being limited to a ‘talk shop’ that merely provides venues where ministers and leaders from larger states join together to exchange views on regional security and economic issues.
So long as the so-called ‘ASEAN Way’ — which informally stipulates non-intervention, non-binding and consensus-based decision-making approaches to regional cooperation — is maintained, ASEAN’s major role will not go beyond hosting the ‘talk shop’. Yet the talk shop’s value could be enhanced if delegates discussed the hard issues, regardless of whether any binding obligations ensued. Read more…
Author: Aileen S.P. Baviera, RSIS
In the last several months, a number of incidents occurred that highlight what appears to be a growing willingness on the part of China to use its armed strength to pressure and influence rival claimants, particularly the Philippines and Vietnam, in the disputed South China Sea.
In February, there were reported incidents of Filipino fishermen being threatened and fired on by Chinese vessels. On 2 March 2011, two Chinese patrol boats confronted a Philippine oil exploration vessel, MV Veritas Voyager, and ordered it to cease activities in the Reed Bank area, which they said was under Chinese jurisdiction. Read more…
Author: Fenna Egberink, the Netherlands
Tensions over the overlapping claims in the South China Sea (SCS) have mounted in the past months, with hostilities accelerating since the beginning of June.
The row between China, Vietnam and the Philippines has urged current ASEAN chair, Indonesia, to step up. Read more…
Author: Jennifer Chen, Georgetown University
How do we resolve the territorial disputes in the South China Sea (SCS)? There is no clear answer, but the first step to settling any argument is to examine all sides of the story.
Media outlets tend to depict China as the aggressor infringing on the sovereign rights of other nations.
Read more…
Author: Eko Saputro, Deakin University
The 14th ASEAN+3 Finance Minister’s Meeting (AFMM+3) in Hanoi, Vietnam, has welcomed the establishment of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), whose job it will be to maintain surveillance of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM), and support its full operation.
As regional self-help mechanism, the CMIM aims to provide liquidity support arrangement in response to short-term liquidity difficulty during crisis, and also becomes a supplement for the existing international support fund facility. Read more…
