Memo #7
By: Ian Townsend-Gault
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent announcement that the long-standing sovereignty and jurisdictional disputes in the South China Sea affects the national interests of the United States will have angered some, worried others, and delighted many. It seems to signal an end to the position held by the United States that issues concerning the Spratly and Paracel Islands, and the ocean space around them, were matters for the contending states alone. Furthermore, it marks another step in the internationalization of these issues.
For China, the new US position will be extremely unwelcome. Beijing has maintained that resolution of all South China Sea issues are matters for bilateral negotiations – between itself and each of the other littorals. ASEAN solidarity has been sorely tested over the past two decades, especially given the unpredictable and often unhelpful behavior of the administration of former President Arroyo. The extent its littoral members wish to see Washington involved at this juncture will inevitably vary.
Some consider that the maritime jurisdictional significance of South China Sea islands has been greatly overstated. Not only are the natural features unlikely to have much impact on delimitation, but attempts to attach significance to mere artificial features have not impressed the international community. However, the claimants have staked out their positions using the most uncompromising language, creating impasse after impasse, and ignoring vital issues such as environmental degradation, fish habitat destruction, and illegal and unsustainable fishing.
The new US policy has geo-strategic implications but little bearing on the sovereignty and jurisdictional impasse. Southeast Asian claimants already are at odds on this as much with each other as with China. Further, the really significant issues may lie elsewhere. Two decades of work by the informal South China Sea Workshop process revealed that sovereignty and jurisdiction issues are less important and more intractable than practical arrangements related to the environment and the survival of the fishery.
It’s time for a renewed exercise in informal diplomacy and Canada remains ideally placed to resume a leadership role. This is a role that no one in the region disputed at the time, and many would like to see reinvigorated.
About the Author:
Ian Townsend-Gault worked with Dr. Hasjim Djalal in 1989 to establish the track-two preventative diplomacy initiative Managing Potential Conflicts in the South China Sea. He is an Associate of the Centre for Southeast Asian Research of IAR, and Director of Southeast Asian Legal Studies at the Centre for Asian Legal Studies, The University of British Columbia.
Links:
- Offering to Aid Talks, U.S. Challenges China on Disputed Islands, New York Times, July 29, 2010
- Map showing Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea
Related Memos:
- Our other Memos about Canada, China, and the United States.