https://www.scmp.com/rss/505840/feed Wu Shicun is president of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies and chairman of the board of directors of the China-Southeast Asia Research Centre on the South China Sea. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com It has become an important consensus between China and the Philippines that South China Sea issues “do not comprise the sum-total of relations between the two countries”. However, given the United States factor and the South China Sea situation, China-Philippines relations will still face many challenges. First, ever-deepening US-Philippine security cooperation will be a main driver of militarisation in the South China Sea, with US deployments in the region including the growing number of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3219025/china-and-philippines-must-ensure-us-and-south-china-sea-issues-dont-come-between-them?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3219025/china-and-philippines-must-ensure-us-and-south-china-sea-issues-dont-come-between-them?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 May 2023 19:30:17 +0000 Since the implementation of its “reform and opening up”, China has overseen a spectacular rise in the living standards of its citizens. This was initially overlooked by the United States. But as Chinese military power and economic strength increased, and especially after the US suffered a major setback in the form of the 2008 financial crisis, it could no longer put China on the policy back burner. In this context, the US proposed the “pivot to Asia” in 2011 which evolved into the Indo-Pacific... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3147128/china-and-us-must-find-ways-get-along-no-matter-how-fierce?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3147128/china-and-us-must-find-ways-get-along-no-matter-how-fierce?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Sep 2021 17:30:25 +0000 At the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference last month, experts and academics from countries around the South China Sea once again gathered in Hainan, China, to discuss how to build a new regional maritime order based on cooperation. From an operational perspective, cooperation among South China Sea littoral states can be divided into three areas. First, the parties in question can directly resolve their territorial disputes and delimitation claims through bilateral dialogue and... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3134307/how-china-and-asean-can-build-foundations-south-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3134307/how-china-and-asean-can-build-foundations-south-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 May 2021 00:45:09 +0000 In the past four years, the South China Sea has been at the centre of the strategic competition between Beijing and Washington. The United States views China’s increasingly assertive actions in the South China Sea as the most pressing threat to the existential order in the Indo-Pacific region. On one hand, in response to China’s territorial claims and military activities in the region, the US has been working closely with its allies and partners to contain and counter China’s efforts. On the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3129895/us-china-rivalry-south-china-sea-must-not-turn-great-power-game?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3129895/us-china-rivalry-south-china-sea-must-not-turn-great-power-game?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Apr 2021 17:00:16 +0000 Last year saw the situation in the South China Sea deteriorate as the United States, other extra-regional powers and some littoral states made waves despite the global impact of Covid-19. Four features stand out in the current situation. First, the “militarisation” of the South China Sea has intensified, spearheaded by the US and joined by other extra-regional countries. Second, references to the 2016 Hague ruling against China in the South China Sea have been revived, and a new round of legal... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3118715/south-china-sea-expect-more-instability-2021-us-encourages-lawfare?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3118715/south-china-sea-expect-more-instability-2021-us-encourages-lawfare?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Jan 2021 00:45:15 +0000 Covid-19 has dealt a body blow to the United States, including its military combat capabilities and deployment. It is reported that the virus has been found in at least 150 US military bases and on four aircraft carriers. Nevertheless, the US military has continued to make waves recently through its operations in the South China Sea, in its relentless pursuit of hegemony in the Western Pacific. This year, the US has mainly conducted four types of military activities in the South China Sea –... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3083194/why-us-continues-stir-south-china-sea-despite-covid-19-body-blow?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3083194/why-us-continues-stir-south-china-sea-despite-covid-19-body-blow?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 May 2020 01:30:11 +0000 The South China Sea issue has become one of the major irritants in the China-US relations in recent years, over which the public opinion in the two countries are very critical of each other. There are even frictions in the sea between the two navies. The South China Sea seems like an outlet for the rivalry and confrontation that are building up of late between China and the US. As a result, the two sides seem to be reassessing each other’s intentions on a strategic level. The latest rhetoric is... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1987046/how-we-got-stage-south-china-sea-understanding-source?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1987046/how-we-got-stage-south-china-sea-understanding-source?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Jul 2016 11:17:49 +0000