September 11, 2019
Chinese Lawfare, Resource Disputes and the Law of the Sea
China notoriously claims special maritime rights in the South China Sea within the ‘nine-dash line’ that appears on official Chinese maps. The precise origin of the line remains obscured. The ‘nine-dash line’ did not appear on government maps prior to 1947 or in private cartographic exercises…
July 31, 2019
Negotiating an Effective China-ASEAN South China Sea Code of Conduct
In August 2018 a single draft negotiating text for a South China Sea Code of Conduct (COC) was first put forward with an agreement reached by China and ASEAN to finalise the COC within three years, starting from 2019. Having faced frequent tensions in the South China Sea, the agreement demonstrates…
February 18, 2017
Beyond Unilateralism in South China Sea FONOPs
Since Donald Trump’s inauguration, many analysts have anticipated that the United States would return to a unilateralist approach to international security. Initial statements from the new administration hinted at a change in Washington’s Asia policy away from the multilateral diplomacy and…