ABSTRACT
This chapter, South China Sea, supplements the other chapters of Southeast Asia in the New International Era with an examination of territorial disputes in the South China Sea. The chapter begins by considering the geocultural context of the South China Sea's littoral societies where cultures and political-economic history co-evolved within a water-dominant physical environment. The chapter then considers the six territorial claimants of the South China Sea (Brunei, China, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam) and the historical claims and toponym disputes that animate the issue. It then turns to analysis of sovereignty claims and the legal dimensions of South China Sea territorial disputes. Here, principal institutional factors and diplomatic activities are examined, namely, the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and various multilateral summits and statements generated by ASEAN. The chapter closes with a discussion of three phases or event trends that have characterized South China Sea disputes since World War II. These phases include Cold War-era strategic activity; diplomatic cooperation following the 1982 signing of UNLCOS; and recent diplomatic breakdown, confrontation, and militarization.
