Is America Losing the Battle For The South China Sea?

Image: Flickr / Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet

Bill Bray, National Interest: How America Is Losing the Battle for the South China Sea

Washington should step up its efforts to make Beijing pay a more serious price for such a flagrant disrespect for international law.

What a difference a year makes. In late summer 2016, there was some hope the July 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration’s ruling in favor of the Philippine interpretation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea regarding the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal would curtail Beijing’s subsequent activity in the South China Sea (despite China’s refusal to even participate in the arbitration case or recognize the court’s jurisdiction, let alone accept the ruling). In fact, some optimists, like Lynn Kuok from the National University of Singapore, have pointed to small developments—such as China this year permitting Filipino and Vietnamese fishing around Scarborough Shoal for the first time since 2012—as encouraging signs that the Hague’s ruling is having a positive effect. But most observers see it much differently, and developments this past summer seem to support a much more pessimistic forecast.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The problem is that when it comes to the South China Sea .... the U.S. needs the country's in the region to support U.S. actions. But the Philippines are more interested in doing business deals with China. Vietnam has been acquiescent to Chinese demands on resource development. And as for everyone else (Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, etc.) .... a subdued silence.