ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 analyzed the interaction of the geopolitical attributes in the East and South China seas in the post-Cold War era. Drawing from the conceptual framework, it claimed that the interplay process in the respective disputes has been characterized by two separate phases, echoing wider transformations in SinoJapanese and Sino-Southeast Asian relations. Significantly, it was asserted that the geopolitical interplay in the East and South China seas has in recent years been typified, respectively, by a softer convergent and by a divergent relationship. As a result, in the Senkaku/Diao yu case, there has been a reduced virulence of the geopolitical considerations influencing the dispute. A similar diluting trend has been noticed in the South China Sea due to the opposite impacts of the sovereignty and energy attributes neutralizing to some extent the disputes. Based on the conceptual framework developed in this book, it is therefore anticipated that these more favorable geopolitical circumstances should contribute to conflict management and even perhaps conflict resolution. Still, Chapter 5 also stressed that these positive trends had remained fragile and that they could be weakened by the rise of nationalistic sentiment and by the power attribute.
