ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the development of China's legal position in the South China Sea (SCS) in the period 2002–2013. It summarizes the developments of China's SCS policy in the past decade and analyzes how different forces have sculpted the contours of China's SCS policy. While multilateralism continued to dominate China's approach to political engagement in the SCS region both before and after 2009, the actual effects of multilateral engagement among relevant parties varied depending on the interaction between the global geopolitical environment and regional multilateral architecture. In the post-2000 period, Chinese marine practices in the SCS have been characterized by major policy developments in the areas of fisheries and environmental protection. The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia formally commits China to enforcing the principles of non-aggression and non-interference, as well as a variety of other conflict resolution mechanisms.
