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Studying the South China Sea:
The Chinese Perspective
Tensions in the oil-rich and strategically important South China Sea escalated in 2011, raising serious concerns about the danger of military conflicts between China and other claimant countries. Not only did China's increased presence in the Spratly Islands lead to major incursions into waters claimed by the Philippines in the first five months of the year, two incidents of Chinese vessels cutting underwater cables intensified the confrontation between China and Vietnam, leading to Vietnam's live-fire exercises and six military drills by China's South Sea Fleet in June. Moreover, the Chinese Navy's rising power projection capability in the South China Sea is rapidly changing the already unbalanced power structure. From Beijing's perspective, U.S. intervention in the South China Sea increases the tension.
The South China Sea encompasses all four basic pillars of China's foreign policy strategy: major power relations (the United States); relations with neighboring countries (ASEAN member states, Japan, India, and others); relations with developing countries (including ASEAN members and India); and multilateral diplomacy (at ASEAN and ASEAN Regional Forum). Therefore, rising tensions there presented the Chinese foreign policy community with the pressing task of producing timely and effective analysis and policy recommendations.
Indeed, most Chinese foreign policy research institutions have been commissioned to analyze the dynamics of the South China Sea and submit policy proposals on how to deal with both the United States and the regional players. In late 2010, Professor Fu Kuncheng, an international law expert affiliated with the law schools of Shanghai Jiaotong University and Xiamen University, was granted a "Critical Project" by the National Social Sciences Fund named "Strategies on the Protection of China's Core National Interests in the South China Sea Region." In 2011, the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), the research institute affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was granted a research project titled "The U.S. Factor in China's Maritime Disputes."
This essay discusses three key features of the current research by the Chinese policy community on the South China Sea. It then highlights the work of four leading research institutions and studies on the issue. Finally, it presents online resources from the Chinese South China Sea Studies in China. The research on the South China Sea issue by Chinese research institutions has three distinct features. First, the research is primarily divided into two categories: legal studies of international maritime law and its application in the South China Sea; and country studies of the policies of each party and their implications for China. For example, the China Institute for Marine Affairs (CIMA), affiliated with the State Oceanic Administration, primarily focuses on the legal aspects and advises the government on legal justifications of China's historical sovereignty and rights in the South China Sea. On the other hand, the China Institute for Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), a top think tank affiliated with the Ministry of State Security, features South China Sea research with analysis of the foreign policy and strategic thinking of countries involved. media, scholars and organizations.
South China Sea Studies in China
The research on the South China Sea issue by Chinese research institutions has three distinct features. First, the research is primarily divided into two categories: legal studies of international maritime law and its application in the South China Sea; and country studies of the policies of each party and their implications for China. For example, the China Institute for Marine Affairs (CIMA), affiliated with the State Oceanic Administration, primarily focuses on the legal aspects and advises the government on legal justifications of China's historical sovereignty and rights in the South China Sea. On the other hand, the China Institute for Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), a top think tank affiliated with the Ministry of State Security, features South China Sea research with analysis of the foreign policy and strategic thinking of countries involved.
Secondly, within the policy community, there is a rather broad but private acknowledgement of the problematic nature of China's policy towards the South China Sea, such as China's strategic ambiguity over its claims, the status of the "nine-dotted line" (which is constantly raised by experts but never acknowledged or denied by the government), the feasibility of bilateral negotiations of multiparty disputes, as well as the application of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). However, such acknowledgement is collectively silenced in public. According to a government analyst, the South China Sea issue is a "political one," and a complete acceptance of UNCLOS would require China to relinquish the nine-dotted line and its ensuing "historical rights" in the disputed waters. Furthermore, multilateral negotiations over the disputed islands, rocks and reefs "most likely will result in China losing at least part of its claimed territory and maritime rights." Beijing cannot afford to be seen as losing territory to foreign powers. Therefore, between a foreign audience and a domestic constituency, Beijing chooses to stick to its existing claims and assertions even at a high foreign policy cost.
Thirdly, policy analysts in China overwhelmingly blame the United States for the rising tension in the South China Sea. In their views, the United States exploited the South China Sea issue to alienate China's friendship with neighboring countries, strengthen America's military alliance with the Philippines, and develop a strategic partnership with Vietnam so as to contain China's growing influence and maintain U.S. superpower status in the region. Chinese analysts share a general disbelief that small countries in the region would dare to challenge China on the South China Sea without U.S. interference. According to Yuan Peng, the Director of the American Studies Institute of CICIR, Washington's support shaped the strategic judgment and decisions by regional countries and serves as an endorser of their rising assertiveness against China.
Leading Research Institutions
ChInA InStItute foR MARIne AffAIRS
The China Institute for Marine Affairs (CIMA) is the research arm of the State Oceanic Administration, primarily focusing on the strategies, policies and laws related to maritime development. It has four research offices: maritime law and rights, maritime policy and management, maritime economics and technology, and maritime environment and resources. CIMA also hosts the secretariat of the China Maritime Law Association. The director of CIMA, Gao Zhiguo, is currently serving as a Judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The deputy director, Dr. Zhang Haiwen, is a leading expert on international maritime law and maritime dispute. A passionate subscriber to the "historical rights" argument, Zhang argues that China's sovereignty over the islands and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea is indisputably based on effective historical control. Furthermore, she argues that the UNCLOS does not supersede the legitimacy of the nine-dotted line, which chronologically precedes the UNCLOS by 63 years. Therefore, China should not give up its historical rights based on the nine-dotted line and neither should any country request that China do so. Strictly speaking, the mission of CIMA spans a broad range of maritime issues, including but not limited to maritime disputes. For example, most of its research products, except "Studies of Maritime Delimitation of China's Surrounding Waters," are focused on maritime development issues, including "China's Maritime Development" (a government white paper), "National Maritime Economic Development Planning," and "Maritime Development Planning.
http://www.cnas.org/files/documents/flashpoints/CNAS_ESCS_bulletin1.pdf
The Chinese Perspective
Tensions in the oil-rich and strategically important South China Sea escalated in 2011, raising serious concerns about the danger of military conflicts between China and other claimant countries. Not only did China's increased presence in the Spratly Islands lead to major incursions into waters claimed by the Philippines in the first five months of the year, two incidents of Chinese vessels cutting underwater cables intensified the confrontation between China and Vietnam, leading to Vietnam's live-fire exercises and six military drills by China's South Sea Fleet in June. Moreover, the Chinese Navy's rising power projection capability in the South China Sea is rapidly changing the already unbalanced power structure. From Beijing's perspective, U.S. intervention in the South China Sea increases the tension.
The South China Sea encompasses all four basic pillars of China's foreign policy strategy: major power relations (the United States); relations with neighboring countries (ASEAN member states, Japan, India, and others); relations with developing countries (including ASEAN members and India); and multilateral diplomacy (at ASEAN and ASEAN Regional Forum). Therefore, rising tensions there presented the Chinese foreign policy community with the pressing task of producing timely and effective analysis and policy recommendations.
Indeed, most Chinese foreign policy research institutions have been commissioned to analyze the dynamics of the South China Sea and submit policy proposals on how to deal with both the United States and the regional players. In late 2010, Professor Fu Kuncheng, an international law expert affiliated with the law schools of Shanghai Jiaotong University and Xiamen University, was granted a "Critical Project" by the National Social Sciences Fund named "Strategies on the Protection of China's Core National Interests in the South China Sea Region." In 2011, the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), the research institute affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was granted a research project titled "The U.S. Factor in China's Maritime Disputes."
This essay discusses three key features of the current research by the Chinese policy community on the South China Sea. It then highlights the work of four leading research institutions and studies on the issue. Finally, it presents online resources from the Chinese South China Sea Studies in China. The research on the South China Sea issue by Chinese research institutions has three distinct features. First, the research is primarily divided into two categories: legal studies of international maritime law and its application in the South China Sea; and country studies of the policies of each party and their implications for China. For example, the China Institute for Marine Affairs (CIMA), affiliated with the State Oceanic Administration, primarily focuses on the legal aspects and advises the government on legal justifications of China's historical sovereignty and rights in the South China Sea. On the other hand, the China Institute for Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), a top think tank affiliated with the Ministry of State Security, features South China Sea research with analysis of the foreign policy and strategic thinking of countries involved. media, scholars and organizations.
South China Sea Studies in China
The research on the South China Sea issue by Chinese research institutions has three distinct features. First, the research is primarily divided into two categories: legal studies of international maritime law and its application in the South China Sea; and country studies of the policies of each party and their implications for China. For example, the China Institute for Marine Affairs (CIMA), affiliated with the State Oceanic Administration, primarily focuses on the legal aspects and advises the government on legal justifications of China's historical sovereignty and rights in the South China Sea. On the other hand, the China Institute for Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), a top think tank affiliated with the Ministry of State Security, features South China Sea research with analysis of the foreign policy and strategic thinking of countries involved.
Secondly, within the policy community, there is a rather broad but private acknowledgement of the problematic nature of China's policy towards the South China Sea, such as China's strategic ambiguity over its claims, the status of the "nine-dotted line" (which is constantly raised by experts but never acknowledged or denied by the government), the feasibility of bilateral negotiations of multiparty disputes, as well as the application of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). However, such acknowledgement is collectively silenced in public. According to a government analyst, the South China Sea issue is a "political one," and a complete acceptance of UNCLOS would require China to relinquish the nine-dotted line and its ensuing "historical rights" in the disputed waters. Furthermore, multilateral negotiations over the disputed islands, rocks and reefs "most likely will result in China losing at least part of its claimed territory and maritime rights." Beijing cannot afford to be seen as losing territory to foreign powers. Therefore, between a foreign audience and a domestic constituency, Beijing chooses to stick to its existing claims and assertions even at a high foreign policy cost.
Thirdly, policy analysts in China overwhelmingly blame the United States for the rising tension in the South China Sea. In their views, the United States exploited the South China Sea issue to alienate China's friendship with neighboring countries, strengthen America's military alliance with the Philippines, and develop a strategic partnership with Vietnam so as to contain China's growing influence and maintain U.S. superpower status in the region. Chinese analysts share a general disbelief that small countries in the region would dare to challenge China on the South China Sea without U.S. interference. According to Yuan Peng, the Director of the American Studies Institute of CICIR, Washington's support shaped the strategic judgment and decisions by regional countries and serves as an endorser of their rising assertiveness against China.
Leading Research Institutions
ChInA InStItute foR MARIne AffAIRS
The China Institute for Marine Affairs (CIMA) is the research arm of the State Oceanic Administration, primarily focusing on the strategies, policies and laws related to maritime development. It has four research offices: maritime law and rights, maritime policy and management, maritime economics and technology, and maritime environment and resources. CIMA also hosts the secretariat of the China Maritime Law Association. The director of CIMA, Gao Zhiguo, is currently serving as a Judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The deputy director, Dr. Zhang Haiwen, is a leading expert on international maritime law and maritime dispute. A passionate subscriber to the "historical rights" argument, Zhang argues that China's sovereignty over the islands and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea is indisputably based on effective historical control. Furthermore, she argues that the UNCLOS does not supersede the legitimacy of the nine-dotted line, which chronologically precedes the UNCLOS by 63 years. Therefore, China should not give up its historical rights based on the nine-dotted line and neither should any country request that China do so. Strictly speaking, the mission of CIMA spans a broad range of maritime issues, including but not limited to maritime disputes. For example, most of its research products, except "Studies of Maritime Delimitation of China's Surrounding Waters," are focused on maritime development issues, including "China's Maritime Development" (a government white paper), "National Maritime Economic Development Planning," and "Maritime Development Planning.
http://www.cnas.org/files/documents/flashpoints/CNAS_ESCS_bulletin1.pdf
